This list contains acronyms , initialisms , and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter B .
For the purposes of this list:
acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as if it were a word, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome , pronounced to rhyme with cars
initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc , pronounced cee dee
pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters mean that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).
(a) = acronym, e.g.: SARS – (a) severe acute respiratory syndrome
(i) = initialism, e.g.: CD – (i) compact disc
(p) = pseudo-blend, e.g.: UNIFEM – (p) United Nations Development Fund for Women
(s) = symbol (none of the above, representing and pronounced as something else; for example: MHz – megahertz )
Some terms are spoken as either acronym or initialism, e.g., VoIP , pronounced both as voyp and V-O-I-P .
(Main list of acronyms)
ba – (s) Bashkir language (ISO 639-1 code)
Ba – (s) Barium
BA –
BAA – (i) British Airport Authority
BAC – (a) Blood alcohol content
BAD – (HBO) Boxing After Dark
BADD – (a) Battlefield Awareness and Data Dissemination
BAE – (p) BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace, BAe)
BAFTA – (a) British Academy of Film and Television Arts
BAI – (i) Battlefield Air Interdiction
bak – (s) Bashkir language (ISO 639-2 code)
BALCO – (p) Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
bam – (s) Bambara language (ISO 639-2 code)
BAM –
BAMC – (i) Brooke Army Medical Center
Banesto – (p) Ban co Es pañol de Crédito (Spanish , "Spanish Credit Bank")
BANG – (a) Bits , Atoms , Neurons , Genes
BAO – (i) Battlefield Air Operations
BAOR – (i) British Army Of the Rhine
B[a]P – (p) Benzo[a]pyrene
BAR
BARD – (a) Binational Agricultural Research and Development fund (between the US and Israel)
BARDA – (a) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
BART – (a) Bay Area Rapid Transit
BAS – (i) Battalion Aid Station
BASE – (a) Building, Antenna, Span, Earth (parachute from)
BASF – (i) Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik (Baden Aniline and Soda Factory, a German chemicals company)
BASIC – (a) Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (acronym was added later, originally it was simply Basic )
BAT – (a/i) Basic Aid Training
BATF – (i) U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
BATS –
BATTeRS – (a) Bisei Asteroid Tracking Telescope for Rapid Survey
BQ
(s) British Antarctic Territory (former ISO 3166 digram; merged with AQ in 1979)
Caribbean Netherlands (current ISO 3166 digram; based on the entity's alternate name of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba)
Navassa Island (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
br – (s) Breton language (ISO 639-1 code)
Br – (s) Bromine
Br – "Best regards" used in valediction
BR
(s) Brazil (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code) – Bihar (Indian state code)
(i) British Rail , previously British Railways
Break Ranks (marching band term)
BRA – (s) Brazil (ISO 3166 trigram)
BRAG – (a) Bicycle Ride Across Georgia
BRASS – Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze (Acronym for using a rifle)
BRB
BRDM – (i) Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dosornaya Mashina (Russian Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, "Combat Reconnaissance Patrol Vehicle") †[ 2]
bre – (s) Breton language (ISO 639-2 code)
BRFSS – (p) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ("burf-us", a CDC health survey covering the U.S. and its territories)
BRI
BRIC – (a) Brazil , Russia , India and China
BRICS – (a) Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
BRIMS – (a) Behavior Representation In Modeling and Simulation (conference)
BRL – (s) Brazilian real (ISO 4217 currency code)
BRM – (i) Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Mashina (Russian Боевая Разведывательная Машина, "Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle ") †[ 2]
BRN
(s) Bahrain (IOC trigram, but not FIFA or ISO 3166)
(s) Brunei (ISO 3166 trigram)
BRSB – (i) Battlefield Reasoning System Brianna
BRT – Bus Rapid Transit (alternatively Bus Rapid Transport)
BRU – (s) Brunei (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)