List of acronyms and initialisms: L

This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter L.

For the purposes of this list:

• acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as a series of constituent letters, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome
• initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc
• pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters means that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).

(a) = acronym in the example: SARS – (a) Severe acute respiratory syndrome

(i) = initialism in the example: CD – (i) Compact disc

(p) = pseudo-blend in the example: 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 and initialisms)

• L – (s) Fifty (in Roman numerals) – (i) Label – Lap – Large – Laser (US military aircraft basic mission designation) – Latin – Left – (s) Litre – (i) Low (transmissions)

LA

• l8r, g8r – (a) later, gator
• la – (s) Latin language (ISO 639-1 code)
• La – (s) Lanthanum
• LA
  • (s) Laos (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • Louisiana (postal symbol)
  • (i) Los Angeles
• LAAS
  • (i) Local Area Augmentation System
  • Los Angeles Astronomical Society
• LAB – (a) Logistics Assault Base
• LabVIEW – (p) Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench
• LACMA – (a/i) Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• LAD – (a) Laser Aiming Device
• LADW – (i) Local Air Defence Warning
• LAESI – (i) Local Authority & Emergency Service Information
• LAK – (s) Laotian kip (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LAMP – (multiple meanings)
• LAN – (a) Local Area Network
• LANL – (i) Los Alamos National Laboratory
• lao – (s) Lao language (ISO 639-2 code)
• LAO – (s) Laos (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LAPD – (i) Los Angeles Police Department
• LAR
  • (i) Light Armoured Reconnaissance
  • Logistics Assistance Representative
• LARC – (a) Livermore Advanced Research Computer (cf. LLNL)
• LARP – (a) Live-Action Role-Playing
• LAS – (s) McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas, Nevada)
• Laser – (a) Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (cf. Maser)
• lat – (s) Latin language (ISO 639-2 code)
• LAT
  • (i/a) Lowest Astronomical Tide (nautical charts)
  • Licensed Athletic Trainer (used in many of the United States; see www.oata.org)
• LATA – (i) Local Access Transport Area
• LATCH – (p) Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (U.S. standard for attachment points for child safety seats in passenger cars)
• lav – (s) Latvian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• LAV
  • (a) Land Assault Vehicle
  • Light Armoured Vehicle
  • Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus
• LAW – (a) Light Antitank Weapon
• LAX
  • (s) Los Angeles International Airport
  • (i) The Latin American Xchange (professional wrestling)

LB

• lb
  • (s) pound (Latin librum)
  • Luxembourgish language (ISO 639-1 code)
• LB – (s) Lebanon (ISO 3166 digram)
• LBH
  • (i) Light Battlefield Helicopter
  • Lyman-Birge-Hopfield bands
• LBJ
  • (i) Lady Bird Johnson
  • LeBron James
  • Light Bulb Joke
  • Little Beagle Johnson (the dog owned by Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson)
  • Lyndon Baines Johnson
• LBN – (s) Lebanon (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LBNL – (i) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• LBP – (s) Lebanese pound (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LBR – (s) Liberia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LBS – (i) Location-Based Services
• lbs – (s) pounds (plural form of lb, see above)
• LBW – (i) Leg Before Wicket
• LBY – (s) Libya (ISO 3166 trigram)

LC

• LC – (i) Line of Contact – (s) Saint Lucia (ISO 3166 digram)
• LC2IEDM or LC²IEDM – (i) Land C2IEDM (q.v.)
• LCA – (s) Saint Lucia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LCC – (i) Land Component Commander
• LCCP – (i) Light Contingency Communications Package
• LCD – (i) Liquid Crystal Display
• LCE – (i) Leaving Certificate Examination – Load Carrying Equipment – London Commodity Exchange
• LCM – (i) Least/Lowest Common Multiple
• LCol – (s) Lieutenant-Colonel (Canada, UK)

LD

• LD
  • (i) Laser Designator
  • Limited Deployment
  • Line of Departure
• LDA – (i) Lateral Drift Apparatus (paratroops)
• LDAP – (a/i) Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (pronounced "ell-dap")
• LDC – (i) Lesser Developing/Developed Country
• LDL – (i) Low-Density Lipoprotein
• LDMOS – (i/a) Laterally diffused MOS transistor ("ell-dee-moss")
• LDS
  • (i) Latter-day Saint (also "Latter Day Saint"); also used as an abbreviation by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
• LDV – (i) Local Defence Volunteers (British Home Guard)

LE

• LE – (s) Lebanon (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• LEC – (i) Local Exchange Carrier
• LED – (i) Light-Emitting Diode
• Legs – (a) level emotion gad speed
• LEGAD – (p) Legal Advice
• LEMOSS – (p) Long-Endurance MObile Submarine Simulator
• LEN – (i) Large Extension Node
• LEO – (a) Low Earth orbit
• LEP – (a) Large Electron-Positron collider
• LER – (i) Loss-Exchange Ratio
• LEU – (i) Low-Enriched Uranium

LF

• LF – (i) Low Frequency
• LFO – (i) Low Frequency Oscillation / Oscillator

LG

• lg – (s) Luganda (ISO 639-1 code)
• LG – (s) Latvia (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• LGB

(i) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual

Laser-guided bomb, self explanatory

• LGBT – (i) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
• LGLO – (i) Love God, Love Others
• LGLO's – (i) Latino Greek Lettered Organizations
• LGM – (i) Little Green Men
• LGS – (i) Landsat Ground Station

LH

• LH – (s) Lithuania (FIPS 10-4 country code) – (i) Luteinising Hormone
• LHC – (i) Large Hadron Collider
• LHD

(i) litterarum humaniorum doctor (Latin, "doctor of humane letters (humanities)")

Left-Hand Drive (automobile)

• LHS – (i) Left Hand Side

LI

• li – (s) Limburgish language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Li – (s) Lithium
• LI – (s) Fifty-one (in Roman numerals) – (s) Liberia (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Liechtenstein (ISO 3166 digram)
• LIBOR – (p) London Interbank Offered Rate
• LIBS – (a) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
• LIE – (s) Liechtenstein (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LIFO – (a) Last In, First Out
• LIGO – (a) Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
• lim – (s) Limburgish language (ISO 639-2 code)
• lin – (s) Lingala language (ISO 639-2 code)
• LINEAR – (a) Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research
• LiP, LIP – (s) Lithium ion polymer battery
• LISA – (a) Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• lit – (s) Lithuanian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• LITAS – (a) Low Intensity Two Colour Approach System (aviation)
• LIVE – (a) Liquid Inertial Vibration Eliminator

LJ

• LJ
  • (i) La Jolla
  • Larry Johnson (both the American football and basketball players of that name)
  • LaserJet (HP printer brand)
  • Library Journal
  • Linux Journal
  • LiveJournal
  • Ljubljana
  • Lord Justice of Appeal
  • (s) Sierra National Airlines (IATA code)
• LJJ – (i) Lord Justices of Appeal

LK

• LK – (s) Sri Lanka (ISO 3166 digram)
• LKA – (s) Sri Lanka (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LKL – (i) Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (Lithuanian, "Lithuanian Basketball League")
• LKR – (s) Sri Lanka rupee (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LKR4 – (s) Linkwitz-Riley 4th order (audio crossover type)

LL

• l. l. – loco laudato (Latin: "in the place quoted")
• LL – (i) Land Line (telephone) – Last Log – Late Latin – Left Limit – Lex Luthor (Superman character) – Light Line – Limited Liability – Linked List – Little League
• LLAD – (i) Low Level Air Defence
• LLB – (i) Legum Baccalaureus (Latin: Bachelor of Laws)
• LLC – (i) Limited Liability Company
• LLGC – (i) Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru (National Library of Wales) – London Lesbian and Gay Centre
• LLLTV – (i) Low-Light Level Television
• LLNL – (i) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• LLP – (i) Limited Liability Partnership
• LLTI – (i) Limiting Long-Term Illness – Long Lead Time Item
• LLTR – (i) Low-Level Transit Route

LM

• LMAO – (i) Laughing My Ass Off (Internet short-hand)
• LMFAO – (i) Laughing My F**king Ass Off (Internet short-hand, electro-hop duo)
• LMB – (i) Lick My Balls
• LMN – (a/i) Lifetime Movie Network
• LMS – (i) London Mathematical Society – London, Midland and Scottish (Railway)
• LMS – (i) Like My Status (Internet short-hand)

LN

• ln
  • (s) Lingala language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • Natural logarithm
• LNB
  • (i) Liga Nacional de Básquet (Rioplatense Spanish, "National Basketball League"; top Argentine league)
  • Ligue Nationale de Basketball (French, "National Basketball League"; the organization that operates France's top two leagues, and the unrelated top league of Switzerland)
  • Low-Noise Block (Satellite dish)
• LNER – (i) London and North Eastern Railway
• LNG – (i) Liquefied Natural Gas
• LNO – (p) Liaison Officer
• LNR – (i) Ligue Nationale de Rugby (French, "National Rugby League")

LO

• lo – (s) Lao language (ISO 639-1 code)
• LO – (s) Slovakia (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• LOA – (i) Limit Of Advance
• LOC – (a/i) Level of Operational Capability – Limited Operational Capability – Lines Of Code – Lines Of Communication – see entry
• LOD – Limit of Detection – see Detection limit
• LoD – (i) Lines of Development (UK)
• LOFAR – (p) Low Frequency Analysis and Recording
• LOGPAC – (p) Logistics Package
• LOL – (i) Laughing Out Loud (Internet short-hand)
• LOMEZ – (p) Low Altitude Missile Engagement Zone
• LONEOS – (a) Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search
• loq – (p) loquitur (Latin, "(s) he speaks")
• LORTID – (p) LOng Range Target IDentification
• LOS – (i) Line Of Sight
• LOSAT – (i) Line-Of-Sight Anti-Tank (missile)
• LOTA – (i) Licentiate of the Orthodontic Technicians Association
• LOTIS – (a) Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System
• LOTR or LotR – (a) Lord of the Rings
• LOTS – (a) Logistics Over-The-Shore

LP

• LP – (i) Linkin Park – Linkup Point – Listening Post – Long Playing record – Louisiana Pacific (cf. LP Field)
• LPC – (i) Linear Predictive Coding
• LPD – (i) Landing Platform Dock (Navy hull classification) – Low Probability of Detection
• LPG – (i) Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cf. LNG)
• LPI – (i) Low Probability of Intercept
• LPS – (i) Landsat Processing System – (p) LipoPolySaccharide

LQ

• LQ – (s) Palmyra Atoll (FIPS 10-4 territory code)

LR

• Lr – (s) Lawrencium
• LR – (s) Liberia (ISO 3166 digram)
• LRAD – (i) Long Range Acoustic Device ("ell-rad")
• LRAS3 or LRAS³ – (i) Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System
• LR-ATGW – (i) Long-Range Anti-Tank Guided Weapon
• LRC – (i) Logistics Readiness Center
• LRD – (s) Liberian dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LRF – (p) Laser rangefinder – (i) Low Readiness Forces
• LRGW – (i) Long-Range Guided Weapon
• LRICBM – (i) Limited Range ICBM
• LRIP – (i) Low Rate Initial Production
• LRP – (i) Logistics Release Point
• LRPE – (i) Long-Range Planning Element
• LRS – (i) Long Range Surveillance
• LRU – (i) Line-Replaceable Unit

LS

• L.S. – (i) Lectori Salutem (Latin, "greetings to the reader"; when the name of the reader is not known in advance)
• LS
  • (i) Landing Support
  • (s) Lesotho (ISO 3166 digram)
  • Liechtenstein (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i) locus sigilli (Latin, "place of the seal")
• LSD
  • (i) Landing Ship, Dock (Navy hull classification)
  • librae, solidii, denarii (Latin: Pounds, shillings and pence)
  • lyserg-saüre-dietylamid (German "lysergic acid diethylamide")
• LSE
  • (i) Least Squares Estimate/Error
  • London School of Economics
  • London Stock Exchange
• LSI – (i) Large-Scale Integration
• LSIF – (i) Labour Sponsored Investment Fund
• LSL – (s) Lesotho loti (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LSND – (i) Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector
• LSO – (s) Lesotho (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LSST – (i) Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
• LST – (i) Landing Ship, Tank (World War II; also known, not entirely affectionately, as "Large Slow Target")
• LSVW – (i) Light Support Vehicle, Wheeled

LT

• lt – (s) Lithuanian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Lt – (s) Lieutenant
• LtC – (s) Lieutenant-Colonel (U.S.)
• LT – (s) Lesotho (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Lithuania (ISO 3166 digram)
• LTC – (i) Long-Term Costing
• Ltd – (s) Limited
• LTDP – (i) Long-Term Defence Plan
• LTG – (s) Lieutenant General – (i) Lightning (METAR Code)
• LTI – (i) Linear Time-Invariant
• LTL – (s) Lithuanian litas (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LTP – (i) Long-Term Potentiation
• LTU – (s) Lithuania (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ltz – (s) Luxembourgish language (ISO 639-2 code)

LU

• lu – (s) Tshiluba language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Lu – (s) Lutetium
• LU – Loonatics Unleashed
• lub – (s) Tshiluba language (ISO 639-2 code)
• LUCA – (a) Last Universal Common Ancestor
• lug – (s) Luganda (ISO 639-2 code)
• LUG – (i) Linux User Group
• LULU – (a) Locally Unwanted Land Use (urbanism)
• LUT – (i) Limited User Test (ing) – Local User Terminal
• LUVW – (i) Light Utility Vehicle, Wheeled
• LUX – (s) Luxembourg (ISO 3166 trigram)

LV

• lv – (s) Latvian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• LV
  • (i) Las Vegas
  • (s) Latvia (ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Launch Vehicle
  • Leading Vehicle
  • (s) Leave
  • (i) Left Ventricle
  • Level Valve
  • Linking Verb
  • Liverpool Victoria
• LVA – (s) Latvia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• LVAD
  • (i) Left Ventricular Assist Device
  • (p) Low-Velocity Airdrop
• LVEF – (i) Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction
• LVL – (s) Latvian lats (ISO 4217 currency code)

LW

• Lw – (s) Lawrencium (obsolete 1963)
• LW – (i) Land Warrior – Low Water (nautical charts)
• LWR – (i) Laser warning receiver
• LWRC – (i) Land Warfare Resources Corporation
• LWS – (i) Land Warrior System

LX

• LX – (s) Luxembourg (amateur radio ITU prefix) – Swiss International Airlines (IATA code)
• LX – (p) Electrics (theatrical term)

LY

• LY – (s) Libya (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram) – Lithuania (amateur radio ITU prefix)
• LYAO – Laugh Your Ass Off
• LYD – (s) Libyan dinar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• LYLAS – (a) Love You Like A Sister

LZ

• LZ – (s) Bulgaria (amateur radio ITU prefix) – (i) Landing Zone