List of acronyms: F
This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter F.
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)
Some terms are spoken as either acronym or initialism, e.g., VoIP, pronounced both as voyp and V-O-I-P.
FA
- fa – (s) Persian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- FA – Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous
- fA – (s) Femtoampere
- FA
- (i) Field Artillery
- Financial aid
- Football Association (England)
- FAA
- (i) U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
- Financial Aid Administrator
- Fleet Air Arm
- Functional Area Analysis
- FAAD – (a) Forward Area Air Defence
- FAADEZ – (i) Forward Area Air Defence Engagement Zone
- FAAN – (i) Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology
- FAAFP – (i)Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians
- FAAN – (i) Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
- FAANG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google (the leading stocks in the late-2010s US market rally) (c.f. FANG, which originally did not include Apple)
- FAAQ – (a/i) Frequently Asked and Anticipated Questions (cf. FAQ)
- FAASV – (i) Field Artillery Ammunition Supply Vehicle
- FAB – (i) Feline Advisory Bureau (UK feline charity)
- FAC
- FACF - Fully Automatic Capsule Filler source
- (i) Forward Air Controller
- Front of Allies for Change
- Frontal Affinity Chromatography
- Full Aperture Calibrator
- FACA – (a) (US) Federal Advisory Committee Act
- FACH – (a) Fuerza Aérea de Chile
- FACN – (i) Fellow of the American College of Nutrition
- FACP – (i) Fellow of the American College of Physicians
- FACS
- FACTS – (a) Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System
- FAD
- (i) Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide
- Fuck A Duck
- (a) Funding Authorization Document
- M18 FADAC – (p) Field Artillery Data Computer
- FAH
- (i) Federation of American Hospitals
- Fine Arts and Humanities
- Foreign Affairs Handbook
- FAI
- (i) Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (French, "International Aeronautics Federation")
- Football Association of Ireland
- FAM – (i) Foreign Affairs Manual
- fao – (s) Faroese language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FAO – (i) Food and Agriculture Organization
- FAPA – Fellow of the American Psychological Association
- FAPHA – Fellow of the American Public Health Association
- FAQ – (a/i) Frequently Asked Questions (sometimes pronounced "fak")
- FARC – (a) Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Spanish, "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia")
- FARDC – (a) "Military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- FARP – (a) Forward Arming and Refuelling Point / Forward Area Rearm/refuel Point
- fas – (s) Persian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FAS
- FASCAM – (p) Family of Scatterable Mines[1]
- FASD – (i) Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
- FASEB – (a/i) Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
- FAST
- (a) Face, Arm, Speech, Time (stroke symptoms)
- Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (Chinese radio telescope)
- Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (U.S. legislation)
- FAT – (a) Field Artillery Tractor – File Allocation Table
- FAVS – (a) Future Armoured Vehicle System
- FAW – (i) Football Association of Wales
FB
- FB – Facebook, An on-line social network
- FBCB2 or FBCB2 – (p) Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below
- FBCS – (i) Fellow of the British Computer Society
- FBI – (i) Federal Bureau of Investigation
- FBIS – (i) Foreign Broadcast Information Service
- FBIDST – (i) Fellow of the British Institute of Dental and Surgical Technologists
- FBM – (s) Board foot
- FBR
- (i) Fast Breeder Reactor
- Foundation for Biomedical Research
- Friedman, Billings, Ramsey (now known as Arlington Asset Investment)
- FBS
- Federal Bureau of Statistics (Pakistan)
- Fetal bovine serum
- Football Bowl Subdivision (U.S. college football)
- Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation
FC
- fC – (s) Femtocoulomb
- FC
- (i) Fire Control
- Football Club
- (s) Funnel Cloud (METAR Code)
- FCA
- (i) Fellowship of Christian Athletes
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
- Fraction of Combat Active forces
- FCC – (i) U.S. Federal Communications Commission
- FCE – (i) First Certificate in English
- FCF – (i) Financial Free Cash Flow
- FCLA – Fraud Claims Law Associate
- FCM
- FCO – (i) UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- FCS
- (i) Football Championship Subdivision (U.S. college football)
- Future Combat System
- FCW – (i) Florida Championship Wrestling
- FCZ – (i) Forward Combat Zone
FD
- FD – (i) Falun Dafa
- FDA – (i) Food and Drug Administration (U.S.)
- FDC – (i) Federal Detention Center (U.S.) – Fire Direction Centre
- FDDI – (i) Fibre Distributed Data Interface
- FDBK – (I) Feedback
- FDR – (i) Flight Data Recorder – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
FE
- Fe – (s) Iron (Latin Ferrum)
- FE – (i) Fully Exposed (armoured vehicle target, as opposed to Hull-Down)
- FEAR – (a) First Encounter Assault Recon – False Evidence Appears Real
- FEAST – (a/i) Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology Cooperation
- FEATS – (a) Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies[2]
- FEB
- (i) Federación Española de Baloncesto (Spanish, "Spanish Basketball Federation")
- Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (Dutch, "Federation Honorary Division (of) Basketball"), the former name of the basketball competition now known in Dutch by the English-language Dutch Basketball League
- Força Expedicionária Brasileira (Portuguese, "Brazilian Expeditionary Force")
- FEBA – (a) Forward Edge of the Battle Area
- fec. – (p) fecit (Latin, "he made it")
- FED – (a/i) Field emission display
- FEDEP – (p) Federation Development Process (Simulation)
- FEF – (i) Frontal Eye Field (neurophysiology)
- FEI – (i) Fédération équestre internationale (French, "International Federation for Equestrian Sports")
- FEMA
- FEMEXFUT – (p) Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (Spanish, "Mexican Association Football Federation")
- FENAFUTH – (p) Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras (Spanish, "National Autonomous Football Federation of Honduras")
- FENS – (a/i) Federation of European Neuroscience Societies
- FEP – (i) Firepower Enhancement Program – Fleet satellite (FLTSAT) Extremely high frequency (EHF) Package
- FEPAFUT – (p) Federación Panameña de Fútbol (Spanish, "Panamanian Football Federation")
- FES – (i) Flywheel Energy Storage
- FEST – (a) Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre[3]
- FET – (a) Field-effect transistor
- FEZ – (a/i) Fighter Engagement Zone
FF
- ff – (s) Fula language (ISO 639-1 code)
- fF – (s) Femtofarad
- FF
- (i) Final Fantasy
- (p) Firefox (Web browser)
- FFA
- (i) Football Federation Australia
- Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency
- Free-Fire Area
- Fusiform Face Area
- Future Farmers of America (today the National FFA Organization)
- FFB – (i) Frum From Birth (referring to an observant Jew born into a religiously observant family)
- FFC – (i) Free For Chat
- FFCM — Fellow of the Faculty of Community Medicine (fellowship created in 1972, now replaced by FFPH)
- FFE – (i) Fukuoka Futures Exchange
- FFF – (i) Fédération française de football (French, "French Football Federation")
- FFG – (s) Guided Missile Frigate (hull classification symbol)
- FFOV – (i) Forward Field Of View
- FFPH — Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, replacing FFPHM
- FFR – (i) Fédération française de rugby (French, "French Rugby (Union) Federation")
- FFS – (i) For Fuck's Sake
- FFT
FG
- FG – (i) Falun Gong
- fg – (s) Femtogram
- FG – (s) Fog (METAR Code) – French Guiana (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
- FGR – (a) Flickr Group Roulette
FH
- fH – (s) Femtohenry
- FHFIF – (i) Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
- FHI – (i) Family Health International, Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd.
FI
- fi – (s) Finnish language (ISO 639-1 code)
- FI – (s) Finland (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
- FIA – (a) Fédération internationale de l'automobile (French "International Automobile Federation")
- FIAT – (a) Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian "Italian Car Factory of Turin")
- FIB – (a) Fucking Illinois Bastard (Wisconsin slang, variants exist)
- FIBA – originally (a) Fédération internationale de basket-ball amateur (French, "International Amateur Basketball Federation"); since 1989, (p) Fédération internationale de basket-ball
- FIBUA – (i/a) Fighting In Built-Up Areas
- FIC – (i) Fellowship for Intentional Community
- FID – (i) Foreign Internal Defence
- FIDÉ – (a) Fédération internationale des échecs (French, "World Chess Federation")
- FIE – (i) Fly-In Echelon
- FIFA – (a) Fédération internationale de football association (French, "International Association Football Federation")
- FIFe – (a) Fédération internationale féline (French, "International Feline Federation")
- FIFO – (a) First In, First Out
- FIFRA – (a) Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
- FIG
- (i) Fédération internationale des géomètres (French, "International Federation of Surveyors")
- Fédération internationale de gymnastique (French, "International Federation of Gymnastics")
- Feminist Improvising Group (music ensemble)
- FIGJAM – (a) Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me
- fij – (s) Fijian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FILA – (a) Fédération internationale des luttes associées (French, "International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles"), former name of the sport governing body now known as United World Wrestling
- FILO – (a) First In, Last Out (see also LIFO)
- FIMPT – (i) Fellow of the Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists
- fin – (s) Finnish language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FIN – (s) Finland (ISO 3166 trigram)
- FINA – (p/a) Fédération internationale de natation (French, "International Swimming Federation")
- FIPS – (a) Federal Information Processing Standard
- FIR
- (i) Final Inspection Report
- Federazione Italiana Rugby (Italian, "Italian Rugby (Union) Federation")
- FIRES – Fever Induced Refractory Epilepsy Syndrome or Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome
- FIS – (a/i) Fédération internationale de ski (French "International Ski Federation")
- FISA – (a) Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron (French, "International Federation of Rowing Associations")
- FISH – (a) Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridisation
- FiST – (p) Fire Support Team
- FITS – (a) Flexible Image Transport System
- FIU – (i) Florida International University
FJ
- fj – (s) Fijian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- fJ – (s) Femtojoule
- FJ – (s) Fiji (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
- FJD – (s) Fiji dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
- FJI – (s) Fiji (ISO 3166 trigram)
- FJN – (a) Financial Job Network
FK
- fK – (s) Femtokelvin
- FK – (s) Falkland Islands (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code)
- f.k.a. or F/K/A – (i) Formerly Known As
- FKP – (s) Falkland Islands pound (ISO 4217 currency code)
- FKSM – (i) Fort Knox Supplemental Manual
- FKT – (i) Fastest Known Time
FL
- fl – (p) floruit (Latin, "living") (genealogy)
- fL – (s) Femtolitre
- FL – (s) Florida (postal symbol)
- FLA – (p) Florida – (i) Front Line Assembly – Future Large Aircraft
- FLAC – (a/i) Free Lossless Audio Codec
- FLAC – (a/i) Free Legal Advice Centres
- FLAK – (p) FLugAbwehrKanone (German for "Anti-Aircraft Guns")
- FLB – (i) Forward Logistics Base
- FLET – (a/i) Forward Line of Enemy Troops
- FLG – (p) Falun Gong
- FLIP – (p) Flight Information Publication
- FLIR – (i) Forward Looking InfraRed (sensor)
- FLK – (s) Falkland Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
- Also Funny-Looking Kid, a medical initialism for a young child with a mostly normal but somewhat unusual ("funny") appearance that raises the suspicion index for congenital disorder. Used only before a medical diagnosis has determined the cause of the unusual appearance.
- FLOT – (a/i) Forward Line of Own Troops
- FLSA – (i) Fair Labor Standards Act
- FLQ – (i) Front de libération du Québec (French for "Québec Liberation Front")
- FLQ – (a) Free Legal Questions
- FLTSAT – (p) Fleet Satellite
- FLTSATCOM – (p) Fleet Satellite Communication System
- FLUBOS – (a) Fat, Lazy, Useless, Bag Of Shit
FM
- FM – (s) Factory Mutual http://fmglobal.com
- fm – (s) Femtometre
- Fm – (s) Fermium
- FM
- (i) Federal Magistrate (Australian post-nominal)
- (s) Federated States of Micronesia (postal symbol; ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code)
- (i) Field Manual
- Flight Manager
- Frequency Modulation (electronics)
- FMC
- (i) Federal Magistrates' Court (an Australian federal court, formerly FMS)
- Food Machinery Corporation (original name of the company now known as FMC Corporation)
- FMCA – (i) Federal Magistrates' Court of Australia (used for citing decisions of the FMC other than family law decisions)
- FMCAfam – (i) Federal Magistrates' Court of Australia: family (used for citing family law decisions of the FMC)
- FME – (i) Formal Methods Europe
- FMECA – (i) Failure Modes and Effect Criticality Analysis
- FMJD – (i) Fédération Mondiale du Jeu de Dames[4]
- FMLA – (i) Family Medical Leave Act
- Fmr – Former (as in "Fmr. president")
- fMRI – (i) Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- FMS
- (i) Federal Magistrates Service (an Australian federal court, now FMC)
- (i) Flight Management System
- Foreign Military Sales
- FMSF – (i) False Memory Syndrome Foundation
- FMTV – (i) Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles
- FMCG – (i) (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods)
FN
- fN – (s) Femtonewton
- FNA – (i) Functional Needs Analysis
FO
- fo – (s) Faroese language (ISO 639-1 code)
- FO – (s) Faroe Islands (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code) – (i) Force Operations (military) – Forward Observer – Frame Optional (military symbology)
- FOAD – (a) Fuck Off And Die
- FOAF – (a) Friend Of A friend
- FoB – (i) Free On Board (shipping)
- FOB – (i/a) Forward Operating Base
- FOC – (i) Full Operational Capability – First of Class
- FoE – (p) Friends of the Earth
- FOGC – (i) Federal Oil and Gas Council
- FOH – (a) Front Of House
- FOIA – (a) Freedom of Information Act
- FOM – (a) Federation Object Model
- FONSI – (a) Finding of No Significant Impact
- FOO – (a) Forward Observation Officer
- FOR – (i) Field Of Regard – Frame Of Reference
- Fortran – (p) The IBM Mathematical FORmula TRANslating System (programming language)
- FOS – (i) Florida Ornithological Society – Full Operational Status
- FoS – (i) Family of Systems
- FOSE – (p) Fallout 3 Script Extender
- FOSE – (a) Federal Office Systems Expo
- FOT – (i) Free on truck
- FOTA – (i) Fellow of the Orthodontic Technicians Association
- FOTC – Flight of the Conchords
- FOUO – (i) For Official Use Only
- FOV – (i) Field Of View
FP
- FP – (s) French Polynesia (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
- FPF
- (i) Federação Portuguesa de Futebol ("Portuguese Football Federation" in that language)
- Final Protective Fire
- fps – (s) frames per second (motion pictures, television, computer graphics)
- FPS
- (i) Fire Prevention System
- First Person Shooter (computer/video games)
- FOOP – (s) Friends Of Organ Pipes (Volunteer group)
FQ
- FQ – (s) Baker Island (FIPS 10-4 territory code) – French Southern and Antarctic Territories (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1979)
- FQDN – (i) Fully Qualified Domain Name
FR
- fr – (s) French language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Fr – (s) Francium
- FR – (s) France (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
- fra – (s) French language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FRA
- (i) Federal Railroad Administration
- (s) France (ISO 3166 trigram)
- FRAGO – (p) Fragmentary Order (military)
- FRAND – (a) Fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (concept in standards-setting and intellectual property law)
- FRCP
- (i) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
- Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
- FRICBM – (i) Full Range ICBM
- frr – (s) North Frisian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FRR
- (s) Falls Road Railroad (reporting mark)
- (i) Federaţia Română de Radioamatorism (Romanian, "Romanian Amateur Radio Federation")
- (i) Fix, Rebuild, Replace
- Federaţia Română de Rugby (Romanian, "Romanian Rugby (Union) Federation")
- FRO – (s) Faroe Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
- FRS
- FRSA – (i) Fellow of the Royal Society of Art
- FRSL – (i) Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- fry – (s) West Frisian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- FRY – (i) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
FS
- fs – (s) Femtosecond
- fS – (s) Femtosiemens
- FS
- (i) Fire Support (military)
- (s) French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
- FSA
- (i) Fire Support Area
- UK Food Standards Agency
- Functional Solution Analysis
- FSB
- (i) Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoi Federatsii (Федера́льная слу́жба безопа́сности Росси́йской Федера́ции, Russian "Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation", succeeded the FSK in 1995)
- Forward Support Battalion
- FSC
- (i) Federal Supply Classification
- (a) Forest Stewardship Council (ecological pressure group
- FSCL – (i) Fire Support Co-ordination Line
- FSE – (i) Fire Support Element
- F&SF – (i) (The Magazine of) Fantasy & Science Fiction
- FSF – (i) Free Software Foundation
- FSH – (i) Follicle-stimulating hormone
- FSI – (i) Fuel Stratified Injection
- FSK – (i) Federal'naya Sluzhba Kontrrazvedki (Федера́льная Слу́жба Контрразве́дки, Russian "Federal Counterintelligence Service", succeeded the KGB in 1991)
- FSM
- (s) Federated States of Micronesia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- (i) Flying Spaghetti Monster (satirical religion)
- FSO
- (i) Fire Support Officer
- Flotilla Staff Officer
- Foreign Service Officer
- FSS – (i) Fire Support Station
- FSSP – (i) Families of Structurally Similar Proteins
- FST
- (i) Finance Support Team
- Finlands Svenska Television (Finland's Swedish-language television)
- Future Soviet Tank (Cold War era)
- FSTC – (i) Foreign Science Technology Center (now NGIC)
- FSV
- (i) Fire Support Vehicle
- Fisheries Survey Vessel
- Flexible Sender Validation
- Fort St. Vrain
- Fußball und Sportverein (German "Football and Sport Association", as in FSV Mainz)
FT
- fT – (s) Femtotesla
- FTC – (i) Federal Trade Commission
- FTE – (i) Full Time Equivalent
- FTHGOAC - For The Highest Good Of All Concerned
- FTL – (i) Faster Than Light
- FTP – (i) File Transfer Protocol
- FTSE – (a/i) Financial Times Stock Exchange ("footsie")
- FTW – (i) For The Win (a commonly used phrase used online to indicate success) F@#K The World, Forever Together Where ever (gang slogan)
- FTS – (i) Flight Termination System used during some rocket launches
- FTS – (i) Fuck That Shit
- FTS – (i) Follow-the-sun
FU
- FU – (s) Smoke (METAR Code)
- FUBAR – (a) Fucked/Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair
- f/u/b/o – (i) For the use and benefit of (found in legal documents)
- FUCK – (a) For, Unlawful, Carnal, Knowledge (Van Halen album title)
- FUD – (a) Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (marketing strategy)
- FUGAZI (acronym) – (a) British/American Army slang, then Video Gamer FPS slang for Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In.
- ful – (s) Fula language (ISO 639-2 code)
FV
FW
- fW – (s) Femtowatt
- FW – (s) Forward
- F/W – (i) Fixed Wing
- FWC – (i) Football World Cup
- FWF – (i) Fixed Word Format
- FWI – (i) French West Indies
- FWIW – (i) For What It's Worth
- FWS – (i) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- FWT – (i) Fresh Water Tank
FX
- FX – (a) Firefox – Fox Extended – (s) Metropolitan France (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1997) – Special effect
- FXX – (s) Metropolitan France (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1997)
FY
- fy – (s) West Frisian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- FY – (i) Fiscal Year – (s) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (NATO country code)
- FYA – (i) For Your Agenda
- FYDP – (i) Five-Year Defense Plan (U.S.)
- FYI – (i) For Your Information
- FYI&A – (i) For Your Information and Action
- FYROM – (a) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, currently North Macedonia
FZ
- FZDZ – (s) Freezing Drizzle (METAR Code)
- FZFG – (s) Freezing Fog (METAR Code)
- FZRA – (s) Freezing Rain (METAR Code)
References
- ^ Major Mark T. Kimmitt (1988-11-18). "Rethinking FASCAM" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-07-23.
- ^ Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies
- ^ Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre
- ^ "Bye-Laws of the FMJD".