A List of Abbreviations Frequently Used inE-mail.

Acronyms Meanings Diamond Codes Meanings

AFAIK as far as I know grin

AKA also known as just kidding

approx. approximately laugh

ASAP as soon as possible no comment

BAC by any chance sigh

B4 before no comment

BK because document curtailed

BRB be right back end of file, end ofmessage

BTW by the way

COD cash on delivery

CC carbon copySpecialSymbols

CU see you *italics* italics

CUL see you later _underlined_ underlined

dba doing business as # number

ea. each

EOF end of file

F2F face to face

FWD forward

FYI for your information Emoticons Meanings

GA go ahead :-) smile, happy

HAND have a nice day :-( frown, sad

HHOK ha ha only kidding :-II angry

>:-( angry

IAC in any case :-@ screaming

IOW in other words ;-D laughing

IDK I don't know ;-o shock

IMO in my opinion ;-) wink

IMHO in my humble opinion :'-( sob, crying

inc. including, included ;-* kiss

NN2R no need to reply 8-) smily with glasses

OTOH on the other hand :=I baboon, foolish

Re: regarding :~( sobbing

Res. response

ROMread only member (on a mailinglist)

RSVP repondez s'il vous plait :-O shouting

RTFM read the "friendly" mannual

TCB trouble came back :-V shouting

TIA thanks in advance :-r sticking the tongue out

TNKU thank you :-P sticking the toungue out

TNX thanks >_< oh, no!

WB welcome back 0_0/~ see you!

WTG way to go

4U for you

2U to you

Abbs. forchat andMoo

Abb.s forbusiness"

irl in real life 1K 1,000

brb be right back 1MM 1,000,000

lol laugh out loud RFQ request for quotation

roflolrolling on the floor laughing outloud

P.O. purchase order

sic as is A/B actual/budget

re re hi, Hi again Div. division

ttyl talk to you later Rev. revenue

Standard prefixes

These prefixes are usually inserted by the email client.

RE: or "Re:" followed by the subject line of a previous message indicates a reply to thatmessage. This is not an abbreviation but stands for "in re", the Latin for "in the matter of".[1]

o re (the ablative of res 'thing') has been used in English since the 18th century tomean 'in the matter of', 'referring to', 'regarding', or 'about'.[2] In business letters andmemoranda, "Re:" may be used instead of "Subject:" to set off the topic.[3]

FW: a forwarded message. Also written as "FWD: ", "Fwd: " or "Fw: ". The recipient isinformed that the email was originally sent to someone else, and that person has in turnforwarded a copy of the email to him or her.

FYI: "for your information". Also written as "Fyi: ". The recipient is informed that he does nothave to reply to this email.

Standard non-prefixes

These words are inserted in the middle of or at the end of the subject, usually by the author.

WAS: the subject was changed. Not an abbreviation, but the word "was" (past tense of"be"). Also written as "Was: " and "was: ". It indicates that the subject has changed since theprevious email, e.g., "Do you know a good babysitter? (WAS: What should we do thisweekend?)". This prevents confusion on the part of the recipient and avoids accusations ofthreadjacking.

OT: off topic. Used within an email thread to indicate that this particular reply is about adifferent topic than the rest of the thread, in order to avoid accusations of threadjacking.

EOM end of message. Also written as "Eom" or "eom". Used at the end of the subjectwhen the entire content of the email is contained in the subject and the body remainsempty. This saves the recipient's time because they then do not have to open the message.

Software development

The following prefixes are often used in software development:

[ANNOUNCE], [ANN] announcement. A new version of the software has been released. [BUG] bug report. A description of an error in the software. [PATCH] software patch. New code is attached to or included in the body of the message.

Other English abbreviations

This is a list of abbreviations which are less commonly used in the subject of an Englishemail header:

AB, meaning Action By. Used with a time indicator to inform the recipient that the senderneeds a task to be completed within a certain deadline, e.g. AB+2 meaning Action By 2 days.

AR, meaning Action Required. The recipient is informed that she is being given a task.

FYA, meaning For Your Action. The recipient is informed that she is being given a task. Canalso mean For Your Amusement, For Your Attention, For Your Approval, For Your Assistance,For Your Awareness, For Your Authorization, or For Your Acknowledgement.

FYIP, meaning For Your Information Please. The recipient is informed about the content inemail with repect/Amiable sense.

FYSA, meaning For Your Situational Awareness. The recipient is informed that thisinformation may be important context for other communications but contains no actionrequired. Similar to FYI but used heavily in U.S. government and military emailcorrespondence.

FYFG, meaning For Your Future Guidance. Also written as Fyfg. Used at the beginning of thesubject, typically in corporate emails in which management wants to inform personnel abouta new procedure they should follow.

FYG, meaning For Your Guidance. Also written as Fyg. Used at the beginning of the subject,typically in corporate emails in which management wants to inform personnel about a newprocedure they should follow.

I, meaning Information. Used at the beginning of the subject. The recipient is informed thathe does not have to reply to this email. May be more commonly used in Europe than inNorth America, where FYImay be preferred.

LET, meaning Leaving Early Today. Used in corporate emails to indicate that the sender willbe leaving the office early that day.

LSFW, meaning Less Safe For Work. Used in corporate emails to indicate that the contentmay be sexually explicit or profane, helping the recipient to avoid potentially objectionablematerial.

NIM, meaning No Internal Message. Used when the entire content of the email is containedin the subject and the body remains empty. This saves the recipient's time because she thendoes not have to open the email.

NLS, meaning Not Life-Safe. Used to indicate that the content may be shocking or grotesque,helping the recipient to avoid potentially objectionable material.

NM, meaning No Message. Also written as N/M, n/m, or *n/m*. Used when the entirecontent of the email is contained in the subject and the body remains empty. This saves therecipient's time because she then does not have to open the email.

NMP, meaning Not My Problem. Used in a reply to indicate that the previous email has beenignored.

NMS, meaning Not Mind-Safe. Used to indicate that the content may be shocking orgrotesque, helping the recipient to avoid potentially objectionable material.

NNTO, meaning No Need To Open. The recipient is informed that the/she does not need toopen the email, necessary information is in the Subject line.

NNTR, meaning No Need To Respond. The recipient is informed that he does not have toreply to this email.

NRN, meaning No Reply Necessary or No Reply Needed. The recipient is informed that hedoes not have to reply to this email.

NRR, meaning No Reply Requested or No Reply Required. The recipient is informed that hedoes not have to reply to this email.

NSFW, meaning Not Safe For Work or Not Suitable For Work. Used in corporate emails toindicate that the content may be sexually explicit or profane, helping the recipient to avoidpotentially objectionable material.

NSS, meaning Not School-Safe or Not School-Suitable. Used in school network emails toindicate that the content may be sexually explicit or profane, helping the recipient to avoidpotentially objectionable material.

NT, meaning No Text. Also written as N/T or n/t. Used when the entire content of the emailis contained in the subject and the body remains empty. This saves the recipient's timebecause she then does not have to open the email.

NWR, meaning Not Work Related. Used in corporate emails to indicate that the content isnot related to business and therefore that the recipient can ignore it if desired.

NWS, meaning Not Work-Safe or Not Work-Suitable. Used in corporate emails to indicatethat the content may be sexually explicit or profane, helping the recipient to avoidpotentially objectionable material.

OoO, meaning Out of Office. Used in corporate emails to indicate that the sender will not beat work.

PFA, meaning [Please Find the Attachment]. Used in corporate emails to indicate that adocument or set of documents is attached for the reference.

PNFO, meaning Probably Not For the Office. Used in corporate emails to indicate that thecontent may be sexually explicit or profane, helping the recipient to avoid potentiallyobjectionable material.

PNSFW, meaning Probably Not Safe For Work or Possibly Not Safe For Work. Used incorporate emails to indicate that the content may be sexually explicit or profane, helping therecipient to avoid potentially objectionable material.

PYR, meaning Per Your Request. The recipient is informed that the sender is replying to aprevious email in which she was given a task.

QUE, meaning Question. The recipient is informed that the sender wants an answer to thise-mail.

RB, meaning Reply By. Used with a time indicator to inform the recipient that the senderneeds a reply within a certain deadline, e.g. RB+7 meaning Reply By one week (7 days).

RLB, meaning Read later. Used when sending personal or informational email to a businessemail address. Immediate response not required.

RR, meaning Reply Requested or Reply Required. The recipient is informed that he shouldreply to this email.

RSVP, meaning Reply Requested, please, from the French Rpondez s'il vous plat. Therecipient is informed that he should reply to this email. Often used for replies(accept/decline) to invitations.

SFW, meaning Safe For Work. Used in corporate emails to indicate that although the subjector content may look as if it is sexually explicit or profane, it is in fact not.

SIM, meaning Subject Is Message. Used when the entire content of the email is contained inthe subject and the body remains empty. This saves the recipient's time because she thendoes not have to open the email.

SSIA, meaning Subject Says It All. Used when the entire content of the email is contained inthe subject and the body remains empty. This saves the recipient's time because she thendoes not have to open the email. A [1] at the start of the subject line, meaning "one-liner",means the same. Also EOM, above.

TLTR, meaning Too Long to read. Used in some corporate emails to request that the emailsender re-writes the email body shorter

TBF, meaning (1) To be Forwarded. Used in some corporate emails to request that the emailreceiver should forward the mail to some one else. It also has the more common meaning(2) To be Frank/Fair. Usually only used in the email body.

TSFW, meaning Technically Safe For Work or Totally Safe For Work. Used in corporate emailsto indicate that although the subject or content may look as if it is sexually explicit orprofane, it is in fact not.

WFH, meaning Working From Home. Used in corporate emails to indicate that thereferenced person is working from a remote location, usually a home office.

Y/N, meaning Yes/No. The recipient is informed that he should reply to this email with asimple yes or no answer, increasing the likelihood for the sender of getting a quick response.cf. VSRE, meaning Very Short Reply Expected.