TLA

The TLA (three-letter acronym or three-letter abbreviation) is the most popular type of abbreviation in technical terminology, and is also very common in general language. While three-letter acronym is the older and more frequently cited term, many argue that use of the word acronym is incorrect (see acronym and initialism), and this has led to the increasing use of the word abbreviation as opposed to acronym in expanding the term.

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TLA is a three-letter abbreviation itself; the term was almost certainly coined with a certain degree of self-referential humor in mind. Likewise, the following four-letter combinations are sometimes used for four-letter abbreviations:

Abbreviation: Abbreviation (from Latin brevis "short") is strictly a shortening, but more particularly, an abbreviation is a letter or group of letters, taken from a word or words, and employed to represent them for the sake of brevity. For example, the word 'abbreviation' can be abbreviated with 'abbr'....

Technical: A technical is an improvised fighting vehicle, typically by a local irregular military force and usually being a modified civilian vehicle or other similar machine. It is usually an open-backed civilian pickup truck on which is mounted a recoilless rifle, heavy machine gun, mortar, or another relati...

Acronym: REDIRECT Acronym and initialism...