Cryptic Abbreviations

A

article, one/I, ace, top mark, first letter key/note

AB

sailor (able-bodied seaman)

AD

now/these days (anno domini), notice/advertisement

AI

best/excellent/first class, maned sloth

B

bad, book, black, British/Britain, bachelor, bishop, born, key/note

BA

degree, academic (also MA)

C

around (circa), carbon, can opener, century/hundred, conservative, club, key/note

CH

chapter, check, church (CE=Church of England; RO=Roman Orthodox), companion

CO

company/business/firm

CT

court (ST=street; RD=road; PL=place)

D

daughter, dead, diamond, five hundred, key/note

E

east/direction, English/England, energy, sweetheart, ecstasy/drug, key/note

ER

queen (Elizabeth Regina), hesitation (also UM)

F

female, folio, following, force, loud (ff=very loud), key/note

G

girl, gravity, gram, grand/thousand, good, midnight, key/note

GI

soldier (OR/RE/TA=soldiers/men)

GP

doctor (also DOC/DR/MO/MB/MD/BONES)

H

heroin, hard, height, husband, hour, hydrogen, horse, hot, last month

I

me/myself/yours truly/the setter, one, iodine, hearing organ (sounds like ‘eye’)

IT

sex appeal/X factor, computers

J

joule, judge, talked about bird (jay)

K

king, kilo/thousand, knight, potassium

L

left, learner/novice, fifty, lake, First Lady, large, Latin, liberal, length, pound (money)

M

man/male, minute, metre, mile, married, million, maiden, mass, thousand/grand

N

north/bearing, name, new, knight (chess), nitrogen, number, pole

NT

New Testament/book/books/scriptures (OT=Old Testament)

O

old, over, ring/circle/band, duck/love/nil/nothing/zero, oxygen

OP

operation/surgery, work (opus)

OS

overseas/abroad, large/outsize

P

piano/soft/quiet (pp=very quiet), penny, page, pressure, pawn

PA

annual/per annum, father, (personal) assistant/secretary, Pennsylvania

Q

question, queen

R

right, river, run, rook, king/queen/ruler/monarch (regina/rex), ringleader

RA

Royal Academy/artist, Royal Artillery/gunmen

RU

Rugby Union/game/sport/code

RY

railway/lines

S

south, son, society, saint (often ST), pole, second, shilling, sulphur, skinhead

T

time, junction, model (T Ford), at last/East End, ton/ne, tiptop

U

posh (British upper class), you overheard, turn, upstart, uranium, university

V

versus/against/opposing, five, see (L. ‘vide’), verse, volume, victory, very

W

west, wife, woman, wide, wicket, with, last straw, centre forward

X

times/by, chromosome, cross, ten, kiss, unknown, vote, coordinate

Y

unknown, coordinate, chromosome, year, yen

Z

unknown, final letter/character