Have you ever faced embarrassment when someone uses any short form and you don’t know how to decode it? We tried to compile a list for you that will help you in using the abbreviations and understand the meaning. It used to happen with me a lot in earlier days, so I used to search for that on my mobile by hiding from the eyes of others… haha

Go and visit all the words, it will be difficult to remember all the abbreviations in one go but you can bookmark this page and revisit it when you want to check anything or let us know in the comment section if we missed anything or if the meaning of any word is not clear.

Business/Professional English Abbreviations


EOD: End of day
EOM: End of message
ETA: Estimated time of arrival
IAM: In a meeting
MOM: Minutes of the meeting
OOO: Out of office
PTO: Paid Time Off
POC: Point of contact
POC: Proof of Concept
WFH: Work from home
YTD: Year to date
CEO: Chief Executive Officer
CFO: Chief Financial Officer
CIO: Chief Information Officer
CMO: Chief Marketing Officer
COO: Chief Operating Officer
CTO: Chief Technology Officer
R&D: Research and Development
SME: Subject Matter Expert
QA: Quality Assurance
HR: Human Resources
B2B: Business to Business
B2C: Business to Consumer
CTR: Click-through Rate
CPC: Cost per Click
KPI: Key performance indicator
TBD: to be decided or to be discussed
VP: Vice President
TBA: To Be Announced
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SOW: Statement of work
GTM: A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a plan that helps you define your ideal customers, coordinate your messaging, and position your product for launch

Finance Abbreviations:


CR: Credit
DR: Debit
EPS: Earnings per share
FIFO: First in, first out
IPO: Initial public offering
LIFO: Last in, first out
LWOP: Leave without pay
NAV: Net assets value
ROA: Return on assets
ROE: Return on equity
ROI: Return on investment
P/E: Price to earnings
P&L: Profit and loss
COGS: cost of goods sold
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, First quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter
Qty: Quantity
PO: Purchase Order (This stands for Purchase Order, an official document issued by a company to a specific seller for items it intends to buy.)
CC: Carbon Copy
BCC: Blind Carbon Copy

General English Abbreviations


UGs: Under Garments
DM: Direct Message
IM: Instant messaging
ISP: Internet service provider
ASAP: as soon as possible
BTW: by the way
N/A: not applicable
COD: cash on delivery
Ad: Advertisement
EST: Eastern Standard Time
FAQ: Frequently Asked Question
FWD: Forward
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
ISO: International Organization for Standardization
LLC: Limited liability company
SOP: Statement of Purpose
POV: Point of View
BOYB: Bring Your Own Booze
FYI: For Your Information
BRB: Be Right Back
BRT: Be Right There
IDK: I don’t Know
DNS: Do not Schedule
LGTM: Looks good to me