Abbreviations

There are several abbreviations for common words or phrases. Capital letters are generally used in abbreviations that remain abbreviated when you pronounce them:

• acc. (ance conoseda como) – a.k.a. (also known as)
• AEC (ante la eda comun) – BCE (before the common era) / BC (before Christ)
• EC (de la eda comun) – CE (common era) / AD (anno domini)
• etc. (e tal cosas, e tal continuante) – etc (et cetera), and so on
• LFN – LFN (Lingua Franca Nova)
• n. (numero) – number
• NB (nota bon) – NB (nota bene), please note
• OVN (ojeto volante nonidentifiada) – UFO (unidentified flying object)
• p. (paje, pajes) – p (page), pp (pages)
• pd. (per dise) – i.e. (id est), that is, that is to say
• pe. (per esemplo) – e.g. (exempli gratia), for example
• pf. (per favore) – please
• PS (pos scrive) – PS (post scriptum), postscript
• TV (televisa, televisador) – TV (television)
• v. (vide) – see (introducing a cross-reference)

Elefen also retains a few abbreviations from other languages that are recognized internationally, including the standardized abbreviations for metric units:

• CD (disco compata) – CD (compact disc)
• PC (computador personal) – PC (personal computer)
• cm (sentimetre) – cm (centimeter)
• km (cilometre) – km (kilometer)
• mg (miligram) – mg (milligram)
• μm (micrometre) – μm (micrometer)
• MB (megabait) – MB (megabyte)

The abbreviated forms of proper nouns and titles use capital letters. But minor words such as la and de – which are not capitalized in the full form of the name – are not included in the abbreviation. Such nouns are often introduced by la, even when abbreviated:

• Dr (dotor) – Dr (as part of a person’s name)
• Sr (senior) – Mr (as part of a person’s name)
• Sra (seniora) – Mrs, Miss, Ms (as part of a person’s name)
• la NU (Nasiones Unida) – the UN (United Nations)
• la RU (Rena Unida) – the UK (United Kingdom)
• la SUA (Statos Unida de America) – the USA (United States of America)

Some proper nouns are best known internationally as untranslated abbreviations, and these are retained in Elefen:

• IBM – IBM (International Business Machines Corporation)
• KGB – KGB (Комитет государственной безопасности, Committee for State Security)