Numeronym

A numeronym is a word, usually an abbreviation, composed partially or wholly of numerals. The term can be used to describe several different number-based constructs, but it most commonly refers to a contraction in which all letters between the first and last of a word are replaced with the number of omitted letters (for example, "i18n" for "internationalization").[1] According to Anne H. Soukhanov, editor of the Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary, it originally referred to phonewords – words spelled by the letters of keys of a telephone pad.[2]

A numeronym can also be called an alphanumeric acronym or alphanumeric abbreviation.

  1. ^ Pope, Mike (2012-02-29). "It's a Number! It's a Word! It's Both!". Vocabulary.com. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
  2. ^ Jeffrey McQuain (September 16, 2001). "Screening the Novel Words of Harry Potter". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved 2010-04-12.