List of acronyms: B

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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)

(Main list of acronyms)

  • B – (s) Bel – Boron

B0–9[]

BA[]

  • ba – (s) Bashkir language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • Ba – (s) Barium
  • BA –
    • (i) Bachelor of Arts
    • (s) Bahrain (FIPS 10-4 country code)
    • Bosnia and Herzegovina (ISO 3166 diagram)
    • (i) British Airways
    • British Army
    • Bank of America
  • BAA – (i) British Airport Authority
  • BAC – (a) Blood alcohol content
  • BADD – (a)
  • 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 –
    • (i) Business Activity Monitoring
    • (s) Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BAMC – (i) Brooke Army Medical Center
  • Banesto – (p) Banco Español 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
    • (s) Barbados (IOC trigram, but not FIFA or ISO 3166)
    • (a) British American Racing
    • Browning Automatic Rifle
    • Buy-American Restrictions
  •  – (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)
  • BATF – (i) U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
  • BATS –
    • (a)
  • BATTeRS – (a) Bisei Asteroid Tracking Telescope for Rapid Survey

BB[]

BC[]

BD[]

  • BD
    • (s) Bangladesh (ISO 3166 digram)
    • Bermuda (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • BDA – (i) British Dental Association
  • BDD
    • (i) Body Dysmorphic Disorder
    • British Defence Doctrine
  • Bde – (s) Brigade
  • BDFL – (i) Benevolent Dictator For Life
  • BDI – (s) Burundi (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BDNF – (i) Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
  • BDO – (i) Battle Dress Overgarment
  • BDOS – (a) Basic Disk Operating System; part of CP/M
  • BDS
    • (i) – Bachelor of Dental Surgery
    • Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, a movement advocating various boycotts of Israel in the context of the Arab–Israeli conflict
  • BDSM – (i) Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sadism and Masochism
  • BDT
    • (s) Bangladeshi taka (ISO 4217 currency code)
    • (i) Bureau de développement des télécommunications (Telecommunication Development Bureau, became ITU-D)
  • BDU – (i) Battle-Dress Uniform

BE[]

BF[]

  • BF – (s) The Bahamas (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Burkina Faso (ISO 3166 digram)
  • b/f – (p) before
  • BFA – (s) Burkina Faso (ISO 3166 trigram)
  •  – (i) Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte, German governmental institute for drugs and medical devices
  • BFF – (i) Best Friends Forever
  • BFI – (a) British Film Institute
  • BFR – (a) Biennial flight review
  • BFR – (i) Brominated Flame Retardant
  • BFS – (s) Belfast International Airport (IATA airport code)
  •  – (i) Blue Force Situation Awareness
  • BFT – (i) Blue Force Tracking
  • BFX – (s) Bioinformatics

BG[]

  • bg – (s) Bulgarian language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • BG – (s) Bangladesh (FIPS 10-4 country code) – (i) Battle Group – Body Guard – (s) Brigadier General – (s) Bulgaria (ISO 3166 digram)
  • BGA – (i) Ball Grid Array – Brandy and Ginger Ale (alcoholic beverage)
  • BGD – (s) Bangladesh (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BGN – (i) U.S. Board on Geographic Names – (s) Bulgarian lev (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BGR – (s) Bulgaria (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BGS – (i) Bristol Grammar School –
  •  – (p) (military simulation; "big wig")

BH[]

  • bh – (s) Bihari languages (ISO 639-1 code)
  • Bh – (s) Bohrium
  • BH
    • (s) Bahrain (ISO 3166 digram)
    • Belize (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • BHD – (s) Bahraini dinar (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BHR – (s) Bahrain (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BHS

BI[]

  • bi – (s) Bislami language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • Bi – (s) Bismuth
  • BI – (s) Burundi (ISO 3166 digram)
  • BIAP – (a) Baghdad International Airport – (p) Biafran pound
  • BICS – (i/a)
  • BID – (i) bis in die (Latin, "twice a day")
  •  – (i)
  • BIF – (s) Burundian franc (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • bih – (s) Bihari languages (ISO 639-2 code)
  • BIH – (s) Bosnia and Herzegovina (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BIOS – (a) Basic Input/Output System – British Institute of Organ Studies
  • BIP – (a) Battlefield Interoperability Programme (ancestor of MIP) – Broadcast incremental power algorithm
  • bis – (s) Bislami language (ISO 639-2 code)
  •  – (a)
  • BIST – (a) Built-In Self-Test
  • BIT – (a) Bilateral Investment Treaty – Built-In Test
  • BITE – (a) Built-In Test Equipment

BJ[]

  • BJ – (s) Benin (ISO 3166 digram) – (i) Blowjob (oral sex)
  • BJJ – (i) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
  • BJP – (i) Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party)
  • BJT – (i) Bipolar Junction Transistor

BK[]

  • Bk – (s) Berkelium
  • BK – (i) Burger King – (p) Bankrupt (most often seen as "gone BK") – (s) Bosnia and Herzegovina (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • BKN – (s) Broken Sky (METAR Code)

BL[]

  • BL
  •  – (i) Battle Laboratory Constructive Simulation Environment
  •  – (s) Blowing Dust (METAR Code)
  • BLEVE – (a) Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion ("blevy")
  • BLK – (i) Basket Liga Kobiet (Polish, "Women's Basketball League")
  • BLOB – (p) Binary Large OBject
  • BLR – (s) Belarus (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BLSA – (s) Blowing Sand (METAR Code)
  •  – Battle Lab Reconfigurable Simulator (U.S. Army)
  •  – (s) Blowing Snow (METAR Code)
  • BLT – (i) Bacon Lettuce Tomato (sandwich)
  •  – (p) Blue Force(s) (military)
  •  – (a/i) ("blooie")
  • BLZ – (s) Belize (ISO 3166 trigram)

BM[]

  • bm – (s) Bambara language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • BM – (i) Battle Management – (s) Bermuda (ISO 3166 digram) – Myanmar (FIPS 10-4 country code; from Burma)
  • BMA – (i) British Medical Association
  • BMCC – (i) Borough of Manhattan Community College
  • BMD – (i) Ballistic Missile Defence – (s) Bermudian dollar (ISO 4217 currency code) – (i) Boyevaya Mashina Desanta (Russian Боевая Машина Десанта, "Combat Vehicle Airborne") †[2] – British Military Doctrine
  •  – (i) British Military Doctrine Group
  • BMDO – (i) (U.S.) Ballistic Missile Defense Organization ("bim-do")
  • BME – (p) Biomedical Engineering – (i) Black and Minority Ethnic group – Body Modification E-zine
  • BMEWS – (a/i) Ballistic Missile Early Warning System ("bee-mews")
  • BMI – (i) Body Mass Index – Broadcast Music Incorporated
  • BMG – (i) Bertelsmann Music Group
  • BML – (i) Battle Management Language
  • BMNT – (i) Begin Morning Nautical Twilight
  • BMP – (i) Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoti (Russian Боевая Машина Пехоты, "Combat Vehicle for the Infantry") †[2]
  • BMR – (i) Basal metabolic rate – Bronirovannaya Mashina Razminirovaniya (Russian Бронированная Машина Разминирования, "Armoured Vehicle for Mine-Clearing") †[2]
  • BMU – (s) Bermuda (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BMW – (i) Bayerische Motoren Werke (German, "Bavarian Motor Works")
  • BMX – (i) Bicycle/Bike Moto (r) Cross

BN[]

BO[]

  • bo – (s) Tibetan language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • BO
  • BO2k – (i) Back Orifice 2000
  • BOAC – (i) British Overseas Airways Corporation (predecessor of British Airways)
  • BoAML – Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • BOAT – (p) Byway Open to All Traffic (pronounced as two syllables, "Bo-At")
  • BOB – (s) boliviano (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BOBFOC – (a) Body Off Baywatch, Face Off Crimewatch (description)
  • BOBFOK – (a) Body of Barbie, face of Ken (description)
  • BOC
  • BÖC – (i) Blue Öyster Cult
  • bod – (s) Tibetan language (ISO 639-2 code)
  • BOD – (i) Biochemical Oxygen Demand
  • BODMAS – (a) Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction
  • BOFH – (i) Bastard Operator From Hell
  • BOGA – (a) Bend Over and Grab Ankles
  • BOGOF – (a) Buy One, Get One Free
  • BOGSAT – (a) Bunch Of Guys Sitting Around a Table
  • BOHICA – (a) Bend Over Here It Comes Again
  • BOI
    • (i) Balance Of Investment
    • Basis Of Issue
  • BOL – (s) Bolivia (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BOM
    • (a) Base Object Model
    • Bill Of Materials
    • Block of the Month
    • Business opportunity meeting
  • BOP – (i) Balance of Payments
  • BOPB – (i) Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (the complete name of the rugby club)
  • BOPD – (i) Barrel of Oil Per Day
  • BOQ
  • bos – (s) Bosnian language (ISO 639-2 code)
  • BOS – (i) Battlefield Operating System
  • BOT
    • (i) Balance of Trade
    • (s) Botswana (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
    • (i) Build Operate Transfer
    • (i) Bank of Thailand

BP[]

  • BP
    • (i) Battle Position
    • British Petroleum (today, BP does not officially stand for anything)
    • (s) Solomon Islands (FIPS 10-4 country code; from British Protectorate of the Solomon Islands)
  • Bp – (i) Bishop
  • BPD – (i) Bipolar Personality Disorder
  • BPM – (i) Beats Per Minute
  •  – (i) Business Process Mobility
  • BPV

BQ[]

  • 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[]

  • 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
    • Break Ranks (marching band term)
  • BRA – (s) Brazil (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BRAG – (a) Bicycle Ride Across Georgia
  •  – Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze (Acronym for using a rifle)
  • BRB
    • (s) Barbados (ISO 3166 trigram)
    • (i) "Be Right Back" (Internet chat abbreviation)
  • 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 – (i) Bathroom Readers Institute (publishers of series of "Uncle John's Bathroom Readers" books)
  • BRIC – (a) Brazil, Russia, India and China
  • BRICS – (a) Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
  •  – (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)
  •  – (i)
  • BRU – (s) Brunei (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)

BS[]

BT[]

  • Bt
  • BT
    • (i) Baal teshuva (Hebrew, "master of return") – used to describe a Jew who adopts Orthodox Judaism as an adult
    • Bathythermograph
    • (s) Bhutan (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
    • (i) BitTorrent
    • British Telecom, the former name of the company now known as BT Group
  • BTDT – (i) Been There, Done That
  • Bti – (i) Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis
  •  – (i) Battlefield Target Identification Device
  •  – (i) Battlefield Target Identification System
  • BTN
    • (s) Bhutan (ISO 3166 trigram)
    • Bhutanese ngultrum (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BTO – (i) Built To Order
  • BTP – (i) British Transport Police
  • BTR – (i) Bronetransporter (БТР = Бронетранспортер "(Heavy) Armoured (Personnel) Transporter") †[2]
  • BTS
    • (p) Bangtan Sonyeondan (Korean, 방탄소년단; literally "Bulletproof Boy Scouts"), expansion of the name of South Korean band BTS
    • (i) Base transceiver station
    • Beyond the Scene, promoted by the band BTS as an alternate expansion of its initialism
    • Build to stock (production approach)
    • Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. federal agency
    • Business Training Systems, original name of the Swedish professional services firm BTS Group
  • BTU – (i) British Thermal Unit
  • BTW – (s) By The Way

BU[]

  • BU – (s)
    • Bulgaria (FIPS 10-4 country code) –
    • Burma (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete since 1989)
  • BUAV – (i) British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
  •  – (a) Battlefield Universal Gateway Equipment ("buggy")
  • bul – (s) Bulgarian language (ISO 639-2 code)
  • BUL – (s) Bulgaria (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
  • or BuNo – (p) Bureau Number (aircraft serial number)
  • BUR – (s) Burma (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete since 1989)

BV[]

  • BV – (i)
    • Background Vocals –
    • Battlefield Visualization – (s)
    • Bouvet Island (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • BVB
  • BVD – (i) Bradley, Voorhees & Day (underwear manufacturer)
  • BVR – (i) Beyond Visual Range
  • BVT – (s) Bouvet Island (ISO 3166 trigram)

BW[]

  • B&W – (i) Babcock & Wilcox – Black and White – Bowers & Wilkins
  • BW – (s) (ISO digram)
  • BW – (s) Botswana (ISO 3166 digram)
  • BWA – (s) Botswana (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • BWARS – (a) Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society
  • BWC – (p) Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
  • BWP – (s) Botswana pula (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BWR – (i) Boiling-Water Reactor

BX[]

  • BX – (p) Base eXchange – (s)

BY[]

  • BY – (s)
    • Burundi (FIPS 10-4 country code) –
    • Belarus (ISO 3166 digram)
  • BYOB – (i) Bring Your Own Bottle (or "beer", "beverage", or "booze") (multiple, but similar, meanings)
  • BYOC – (i) Bring Your Own Computer (play on BYOB)
  • BYOF – (i) Bring Your Own Flask
  • BYR – (s) Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BYS – (s) Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete since 1992)
  • BYU – (i) Brigham Young University

BZ[]

  • BZ – (s) Belize (ISO 3166 digram)
  • BZD – (s) Belize dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • BZP – (p) Benzylpiperazine

References[]

  1. ^ See references and discussion under Barbecue and Talk:List of acronyms and initialisms: B. Examples of use: [1], [2] Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, [3], [4]
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-02-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ http://www.tbkarunia.com[permanent dead link]
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