Grammar Clinic: The REAL difference between ACRONYM and ABBREVIATION

Many students, even writers and speakers, believe these words can be interchanged and will not readily believe they do not mean the same, until they read this.

ABBREVIATION (noun)
1. A shortened form of a word or phrase.
(e.g. SKU is the abbreviation for Stock Keeping Unit)

2. The process of abbreviating something.                                                                                                                                         (e.g. Nursing records must be written without abbreviation

ACRONYM (noun)
An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. ASCII, NASA, NEPA ).