Spanish Abbreviations: 150+ Common Acronyms, Symbols, and Shortcuts

Key takeaways

• When Spanish abbreviates a plural noun, it often doubles the consonant: EE.UU. (Estados Unidos), RR.HH. (Recursos Humanos), FF.AA. (Fuerzas Armadas). This doubled-consonant convention signals plurality and does not exist in English abbreviations.
• Periods appear in Spanish abbreviations differently from English: Sr. has a period, Dra. has a period, but many institutional acronyms spelled out as full words (UNESCO, OTAN) drop the periods and uppercase all letters. The rule is that abbreviations of individual words take periods; acronyms pronounced as words do not.
• Internet abbreviations in Spanish compress phonetically rather than alphabetically: xfa (por favor) uses x because the letter name equis sounds like es- in rapid speech; x also appears in xq (porque) and xa (para) for the same reason.
• Abbreviations vary by country: the same concept may use different abbreviations in Spain, Mexico, and Argentina. DNI (Documento Nacional de Identidad) is the Spanish national ID; Mexico uses CURP and INE for equivalent documents. Reading Spanish text from a specific country may require knowing the local conventions.

Spanish abbreviations appear in every form of written Spanish, from formal legal documents to text messages, and learners encounter them constantly in real materials. The problem is that standard language courses cover vocabulary and grammar but not abbreviations, which means intermediate learners can read a Spanish newspaper or text and still be stopped by Sr., p.ej., RR.HH., or q.e.p.d.

This guide covers 150+ Spanish abbreviations across six categories: formal titles and honorifics, academic and professional abbreviations, common institutional acronyms, internet and texting shortcuts, time and date abbreviations, and business abbreviations.

Abbreviations are a category of written Spanish that learners encounter constantly in real materials but that standard courses don’t address. Working through them with a Spanish language tutor on italki, which has connected over 10 million learners with qualified teachers since 2007, adds the register and regional context that a list alone cannot give you.

Formal titles and honorifics

These appear in formal letters, official documents, academic contexts, and business correspondence. Periods are standard.

Abbreviation	Full form	English
Sr.	señor	Mr.
Sra.	señora	Mrs. / Ms.
Srta.	señorita	Miss
Dr.	doctor	Doctor (male)
Dra.	doctora	Doctor (female)
Prof.	profesor	Professor (male)
Profa.	profesora	Professor (female)
Lic.	licenciado/a	Bachelor’s degree holder (title used in Latin America)
Ing.	ingeniero/a	Engineer
Arq.	arquitecto/a	Architect
Abog.	abogado/a	Lawyer
Excmo./Excma.	excelentísimo/a	Excellency (formal address for high officials)
Ilmo./Ilma.	ilustrísimo/a	Most Illustrious (formal address for certain officials)
S.M.	Su Majestad	His/Her Majesty
S.A.R.	Su Alteza Real	His/Her Royal Highness
Rdo./Rvdo.	reverendo	Reverend

Usage note: In Spain, professional titles like Ing. and Arq. are less commonly written before names than in Mexico and Latin America, where they appear frequently in formal contexts, business cards, and email signatures.

Academic and professional abbreviations

These appear in academic writing, research papers, textbooks, footnotes, and professional documents.

Abbreviation	Full form	English equivalent
p. / pág.	página	page
pp. / págs.	páginas	pages
cap.	capítulo	chapter
ed.	edición / editor/a	edition / editor
vol.	volumen	volume
núm. / nº	número	number
fig.	figura	figure
cfr. / cf.	confróntese / confer	compare with / see also
ibíd.	ibídem	in the same place (same source, same page)
íd.	ídem	the same (same author)
op. cit.	opere citato	in the work cited
v. / véase	véase	see
s.f.	sin fecha	no date (for undated sources)
s.l.	sin lugar	no place (for sources without publication location)
aprox.	aproximadamente	approximately
etc.	etcétera	etc.
p.ej.	por ejemplo	e.g. (for example)
es decir / i.e.	esto es	i.e. (that is)
a saber	a saber	namely
entre otros / entre otras	entre otros/as	among others
y otros / et al.	y otros	et al.
sig. / sigs.	siguiente / siguientes	following
trad.	traducido/a por	translated by
reimpr.	reimpresión	reprint

A Spanish teacher online can help you read academic Spanish texts that are dense with these abbreviations, explaining not only what they mean but how to use them correctly in your own writing. italki has 30,000+ teachers across 150+ languages, including Spanish teachers with academic backgrounds who support learners working with formal written Spanish.

Institutional acronyms

These are acronyms for organizations, agencies, and institutions. Most are written in all uppercase without periods.

International organizations:

Acronym	Full form	English
ONU	Organización de las Naciones Unidas	UN (United Nations)
UE	Unión Europea	EU (European Union)
OTAN	Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte	NATO
FMI	Fondo Monetario Internacional	IMF
OMS	Organización Mundial de la Salud	WHO
UNESCO	Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura	UNESCO
UNICEF	Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia	UNICEF
ONG	Organización No Gubernamental	NGO
Cruz Roja	Cruz Roja Internacional	Red Cross

Spanish national institutions:

Acronym	Full form	English
DNI	Documento Nacional de Identidad	Spanish national ID
NIE	Número de Identificación de Extranjero	Foreigner ID number (Spain)
NIF	Número de Identificación Fiscal	Tax identification number
IVA	Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido	VAT (Value Added Tax)
IRPF	Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas	Personal income tax
SEPE	Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal	Spanish public employment service
SS / CCSS	Seguridad Social	Social Security
BOE	Boletín Oficial del Estado	Official State Gazette
RENFE	Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles	Spanish national railway

Economic and demographic:

Acronym	Full form	English
PIB	Producto Interior Bruto	GDP
IPC	Índice de Precios al Consumo	CPI (Consumer Price Index)
RR.HH.	Recursos Humanos	HR (Human Resources)
EE.UU.	Estados Unidos	USA
FF.AA.	Fuerzas Armadas	Armed Forces
PP	Partido Popular	People’s Party (Spain)
PSOE	Partido Socialista Obrero Español	Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party

For greetings and conversational phrases used in Spain and Latin America, the guide to how to say how are you in Spanish covers the regional variants and register differences that come up in Spanish-speaking contexts across countries.

Internet and texting abbreviations

Spanish texting uses phonetic compression more than alphabetic abbreviation. The letter x appears frequently because its name in Spanish (equis) sounds like the syllable es- or ex-.

Abbreviation	Full form	English
xfa / x fa	por favor	please
xq / porq	porque	because
xa	para	for
q	que	that / which / what
tb / tmb	también	also
d	de	of / from
t	te	you (object pronoun)
k	que	that (alternative spelling)
msj	mensaje	message
bss / bsos	besos	kisses
mxo / mcho	mucho	a lot
ntp	no te preocupes	don’t worry
tqm	te quiero mucho	I love you a lot
tkm	te quiero mucho	I love you a lot (variant)
vdd / vd	verdad	truth / is that true?
ymam / llam	llamar	to call (phonetic)
wap/wapa/wapo	guapa/guapo	beautiful / handsome
jaja / jejeje / jiji	ja ja ja…	haha (laughter)
OMG	Oh Dios mío	OMG (borrowed from English)
ok	de acuerdo	okay / agreed
lol	(borrowed from English)	lol
fin	fin	end / finished
grax / grac	gracias	thanks
buenas	buenos días/tardes	hi / good day (casual)
buen finde	buen fin de semana	have a good weekend

Regional note: Most internet abbreviations are shared across Spanish-speaking countries, but some are more common in Spain (finde for weekend) or Latin America. Emoji use often replaces abbreviations entirely in informal messaging across all regions.

Time, date, and measurement abbreviations

Abbreviation	Full form	English
a.m.	ante meridiem	a.m.
p.m.	post meridiem	p.m.
h	hora/s	hour/s
min.	minuto/s	minute/s
seg. / s	segundo/s	second/s
d.C.	después de Cristo	AD
a.C.	antes de Cristo	BC
s. / S.	siglo	century
km	kilómetro/s	kilometer/s
km/h	kilómetros por hora	km/h
m	metro/s	meter/s
cm	centímetro/s	centimeter/s
mm	milímetro/s	millimeter/s
kg	kilogramo/s	kilogram/s
g / gr	gramo/s	gram/s
l / lt	litro/s	liter/s
ml	mililitro/s	milliliter/s
ºC	grados Celsius	degrees Celsius
ºF	grados Fahrenheit	degrees Fahrenheit
m²	metros cuadrados	square meters
m³	metros cúbicos	cubic meters

Business abbreviations

Abbreviation	Full form	English
S.A.	Sociedad Anónima	PLC / Corporation
S.L.	Sociedad Limitada	LLC / Limited company
S.A.U.	Sociedad Anónima Unipersonal	Single-member corporation
S.L.U.	Sociedad Limitada Unipersonal	Single-member LLC
S.C.	Sociedad Colectiva	General partnership
Cía.	compañía	company
Cdo. / Cdo	condado	county
dpto. / depto.	departamento	department
avda. / avd.	avenida	avenue
c/	calle	street (used in addresses)
n.º / nº	número	number (in addresses)
P.D.	posdata	P.S. (postscript)
Att. / Atto.	atentamente	sincerely / attentively
s/n	sin número	without number (addresses with no street number)
Ref.	referencia	reference
Fax	fax	fax
Tel.	teléfono	telephone
Ext.	extensión	extension
c.c.	con copia	cc (carbon copy)
cco / CCO	con copia oculta	bcc (blind carbon copy)
adj.	adjunto	attached
IVA inc.	IVA incluido	VAT included
s/IVA	sin IVA	excluding VAT
DTO.	descuento	discount
VTO.	vencimiento	due date / maturity date
PVP	precio de venta al público	RRP (recommended retail price)
q.e.p.d.	que en paz descanse	R.I.P. (rest in peace)
s.s.s.	su seguro servidor	yours truly (archaic, formal letter closing)

Reading abbreviations in context

Book a trial lesson today and bring a Spanish text that’s full of abbreviations and acronyms you haven’t fully decoded. A teacher who reads and writes in Spanish daily will decode those abbreviations in context, not just as isolated entries.

With 30,000+ expert tutors trusted by over 10 million learners worldwide, italki has Spanish teachers who can explain which abbreviations are formal, informal, regional, or outdated.

FAQ

Why do some Spanish abbreviations double the consonant for plurals?

In Spanish, doubling the consonant in an abbreviation signals that the full word is plural. EE.UU. (Estados Unidos), RR.HH. (Recursos Humanos), and FF.AA. (Fuerzas Armadas) follow this convention. It is a formal written convention that does not appear in informal abbreviation or in acronyms pronounced as words.

Is p.ej. the same as e.g.?

Yes. P.ej. stands for por ejemplo and functions exactly like e.g. in English. Es decir (abbreviated i.e. in Spanish texts, following the Latin convention) means “that is” and functions like i.e. in English. The distinction between introducing an example (p.ej.) and giving a clarification (es decir) is the same as the English distinction between e.g. and i.e..

What is the difference between an abreviatura and an acrónimo in Spanish?

An abreviatura is a shortened form of a word using its initial letters or letters with a period: Sr., pág., vol. An acrónimo is an abbreviation of multiple words read as a single word: UNESCO, OTAN, NASA. A sigla is an abbreviation of multiple words read letter by letter: DNI, PIB, ONG. In common use, these terms overlap and all three are sometimes called siglas.

Does Spain use the same abbreviations as Latin America?

Most academic and formal abbreviations are shared. Business abbreviations differ for company types (S.A. and S.L. are Spanish; S.A. de C.V. is the Mexican equivalent of a corporation). National institution abbreviations (DNI, NIE) are Spain-specific; each country has its own ID document abbreviations. Internet abbreviations are largely shared but with some regional variations in slang.