List of acronyms: S
This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter S.
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.
S0–9
- S followed by a number is used to denote various German and Austrian S-train lines.
- S4C — (i) Sianel Pedwar Cymru (Welsh, "Channel Four Wales")
- S3 - (i) Alternative to SSS (e.g. Amazon S3)
SA
- sa — (s) Sanskrit language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SA
- (s) Sand (METAR Code)
- Saudi Arabia (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country's code digram)
- (i) Sexaholics Anonymous
- (i) sine anno (Latin, “without year”)
- Single Adult, a designation in the LDS Church for unmarried individuals 18 and older
- Situational awareness
- South Africa
- (i/s) South Australia (postal symbol)
- (i) Standards Australia
- Sturmabteilung (German, “Storm Detachment”, Nazi forerunner and rival of SS)
- S.A. – designation for a corporation in many European countries; see article for meanings
- SAA
- (i) Saudi Arabian Airlines, former name of Saudia
- Sex Addicts Anonymous
- South African Airways
- Southern Athletic Association
- Standards Association of Australia, a former name of Standards Australia
- SAAB — (a) Svenska Aeroplan AB (Swedish aircraft manufacturer; also refers to its former auto manufacturing arm)
- SAAFR — (a/i) Standard use Army Aircraft Flight Route (“safer”)
- SAAMI — (a) Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (“sammy”)
- SAARC — (i) South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- SAB — (i) Soprano Alto Baritone
- Sabena — (a) Société anonyme belge d'exploitation de la navigation aérienne (French for “Belgian Company for Exploiting Aerial Navigation”, 1923–2001)
- SABIC — (p) Saudi Basic Industries Corporation
- SABR — (a) Society for American Baseball Research
- SAC
- (a) Standards Activity Committee (of SISO)
- U.S. Strategic Air Command (1946–1992)
- SACAT — (a) Semi Attended Customer Activated Terminal (Supermarket checkout)
- SACEUR — (p) Supreme Allied Commander EURope
- SACF - Semi Automatic Capsule Filler source
- SACLANT — (p) Supreme Allied Commander atLANTic
- SACLOS — (a) Semi-Automatic Command to Line of Sight
- SAD
- (s) Safford Regional Airport (IATA code)
- (a) Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Situational Awareness Display
- SADD — (a) originally Students Against Drunk Driving, now Students Against Destructive Decisions (U.S. national school-related group)
- SADL
- (a) Situation Awareness Data Link (“saddle”)
- Structural Architecture Description Language
- SAE
- SAFER — (a) Steel And Foam Energy Reduction
- SAFETY — (a) Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth
- SAFICT — (a) Software Agents as Facilitators of Interoperability in Collective Training
- sag — (s) Sango language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SAG — (i) Screen Actors Guild
- SAGAT — (a) Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique
- SAGE — (a) Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (simulation)
- SAHB — (a) Sensational Alex Harvey Band
- SAIC — (i) Science Applications International Corporation
- SALT
- (a/i) Save A Life Today (SALT) Alert; Emergency Contact System
- (a) Southern African Large Telescope
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
- SAM
- Sambo – (p/a) Samooborona bez oruzhiya (Russian: "Самооборона без оружия", literally "self-defense without weapons")
- SAML — (a) Security Assertion Markup Language (“sam-ell”)
- SANZAAR — (a) South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby
- san
- (s) Sanskrit language (ISO 639-2 code)
- (a) Storage Area Network
- SAR
- (s) Saudi riyal (ISO 4217 currency code)
- (a) Search And Rescue
- Special Administrative Region
- Synthetic Aperture Radar
- SARA
- SARP — (a) Search And Rescue Processor
- SARR — (i/a) Search And Rescue Repeater
- SARS — (a) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
- SART
- (a) Search and Rescue Transponder
- Situational Awareness Rating Technique
- SARU — (i) South African Rugby Union
- SAS
- (i) Scandinavian Airlines System
- Second Avenue Subway
- Situational Awareness System
- Special Air Service
- Studies, Analysis and Simulation
- Side Angle Side
- (a) Statistical Analysis System (original meaning; SAS Institute Inc. has evolved far beyond that scope)
- SASE — (i) Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope
- SASO — (a) Stability and Support Operations
- SASOL — (p) Suid Afrikaanse Steenkool en Oli.e. (Afrikaans, “South African Coal and Oil”)
- SAT
- (i) formerly Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test; now known solely by the initials
- Small Arms Trainer
- SATB — (i) Soprano Alto Tenor Bass
- SATNAV — (p) Satellite Navigation (Increasingly common GPS based system in new vehicles)
- SATs — (a) Standard Assessment Tasks and other similar terms describing tests used in English schools; see National Curriculum assessment#Terminology
- SAU — (s) Saudi Arabia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SAVAK — (a) Sazamane Etelaat va Amniate Kechvar (Iranian “Security and Intelligence Service”)
- SAW
- (i) ṣallā -llāhu ʿalayhī (wa-ʾālihī) wa-sallama (Arabic: صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ, "God bless him [and his family] and grant him peace"), an honorific suffix within Islam for Muhammad
- (a) Submerged arc welding
- Squad Automatic Weapon
- Surface acoustic wave
- SAWE — (a) Society of Allied Weight Engineers
- SAWS — (i) alternate form of the Islamic honorific suffix for Muhammad (see SAW)
SB
- Sb — (s) Antimony (Latin Stibium)
- SbA - Stibarsen, an alloy of antimony and arsenic
- SB
- (i) Sexy Bitch
- Sexy Bastard
- Sexy Boy (disambiguation)
- (s) Solomon Islands (ISO 3166 digram)
- (i) Special Warfare Boat Operator
- SBA
- (i) Santa Barbara Airport
- Simulation-Based Acquisition
- Small Business Administration
- Sovereign Base Area
- Student bar association
- SBB — (i) German for the Swiss Federal Railways
- SBC
- SBCCOM — (p) U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (disbanded 2003)
- SBCS — (i) Single-Byte Character Set
- SBCT — (i) Stryker Brigade Combat Team
- SBD
- (s) Solomon Islands dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
- Silent But Deadly
- SBP
- (i) Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (Filipino, "Basketball Federation of the Philippines")
- U.S. School Breakfast Program
- Society of Business Practitioners
- State Bank of Pakistan
- SBS
- SBW
- (i) Sonny Bill Williams (New Zealand dual-code rugby player)
SC
- sc — (s) Sardinian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Sc — (s) Scandium
- SC
- (s) Cruiser Submarine (US Navy hull classification) c Saint Kitts and Nevis (FIPS 10-4 country code; from Saint Christopher)
- Seychelles (ISO 3166 digram)
- South Carolina (postal symbol)
- SCA
- SCAP — (a) Supreme Commander Allied Powers (Allied occupation of Japan)
- sccm — (s) Standard cubic centimetre per minute (unit of measurement of fluid flow)
- sccs — (s) Standard cubic centimetre per second (unit of measurement of fluid flow)
- scfh — (s) Standard cubic foot per hour (unit of measurement of fluid flow)
- scfm — (s) Standard cubic foot per minute (unit of measurement of fluid flow)
- scfs — (s) Standard cubic foot per second (unit of measurement of fluid flow)
- SCG — (s) Serbia and Montenegro (ISO 3166 trigram; defunct since 2006)
- SCHIMS — (i) Soldier Combat Helmet Identification Marking System
- SCHIP — (a) State Children's Health Insurance Program (U.S.; often pronounced "ess-chip")
- SciFi — Science Fiction
- sCJD — (i) Sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease
- SCM — (i) Surface Contamination Module
- SCMODS — (s) State, County, Municipal Offender Data System
- SCN — (p) Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
- SCNT — (i) Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
- SCO
- (i) Santa Cruz Operation (initials later used by SCO Group)
- (s) Scotland (FIFA trigram; not eligible for an ISO 3166 or IOC trigram)
- (a) Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- SCOTUS — (a) Supreme Court of the United States
- SCR — (s) Seychelles rupee (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SCRAM — (a) Safety Control Rod Axe Man
- SCS
- (i) Scan Correlated Shift
- Soil Conservation Service
- SCSI
- (a) Small Computer System Interface (“scuzzy”)
- (i) Strategic and Combat Studies Institute
- SCT — (s) Scattered Sky (METAR Code)
- SCTP — (i) Stream Control Transmission Protocol
- Scuba — (a) Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
- SCUF — Slow Continuous Ultrafiltration
- SCUFN — (i) Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names (of GEBCO)
SD
- sd — (s) Sindhi language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SD
- (i) Secure Digital (memory card format)
- Sheriff's department
- Smoke/Decontamination
- (s) South Dakota (postal symbol)
- Sudan (ISO 3166 digram)
- SDC
- (i) Shaft Driven Compressor
- U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command (1985–1992)
- SDG — (s) Sudanese pound (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SDG — (i) Sum Dum Goy - greasy spoon chinese restaurant
- SDH — (i) Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
- SDHC – (i) Secure Digital High Capacity
- SDI — see entry
- SDN — (s) Sudan (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SDO — (i) Scattered Disc Object
- SDP — (i) Social Democratic Party (European politics)
- SDR — (i) Strategic Defence Review
- SDRAM — (i) Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (“ess-dee-ram”)
- SDS — (i) Students for a Democratic Society
- SDSS — (i) Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- SDXC – (p) Secure Digital eXtended Capacity
SE
- se — (s) Northern Sami language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Se — (s) Selenium
- SE
- (s) Seychelles (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- (i) Societas Europaea (form of business organization in the EU)
- South-east
- (s) Sweden (ISO 3166 digram)
- (i) Synthetic Environment
- System Engineering
- SEAD — (i) Suppression of Enemy Air Defence(s)
- SEADI — (i) Senior Executioner of Approved Driving Instructors
- SEAFDEC — (p) Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center
- SEAL — (p) SEa-Air-Land
- SEAT — (a) Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish for "Spanish Touring Car Company")
- SEATO — (a) Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
- SeaWiFS — (p) Sea-Viewing Wide Field of View Sensor (satellite instrument)
- SEC
- (i) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- (p) Security
- Southeastern Conference
- SECaaS - (p) Security-as-a-Service
- SECAM — (a) Séquentiel couleur à mémoire (French for “Colour Sequential with Memory”; TV standard, cf. NTSC, PAL)
- SECDEF — (p) (U.S.) Secretary of Defense
- SED — (i) CERDEC Software Engineering Directorate
- SEDRIS — (a) Synthetic Environment Data Representation and Interchange Specification
- SEE — (a) Small Emplacement Excavator
- SEG — (i) Society of Exploration Geophysicists
- SEG — (i) Special Escort Group
- SEK — (s) Swedish krona (ISO 4217 currency code)
- Selkent — (p) South East London & Kent Bus Company
- SELT — (a) Single Ended Line Test (ing)
- SEM
- (i/a) Sensor Employment Manager
- Switch to Email Mode, i.e. stop texting as it is more disruptive by making a sound or vibrating and email instead, for a given time
- SEN
- (s) Senegal (ISO 3166 trigram)
- (i) Small Extension Node
- SEP
- (i) Somebody Else's Problem
- Spherical Error Probable
- System Enhancement Package
- System Engineering Plan
- SEPTA — (i) Southeastern Pennsylvania Rapid-Transit Authority
- SERE — (i) Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape
- SESSPE — (a) Submarine Escape and Surface Survival Personnel Equipment
- SET — (p) Staphylococcal EnteroToxin
- SETI — (a) Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence
- SETAC — (a) Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
- SEU
- (i) Single Event Upset (solid state physics)
- Slightly Enriched Uranium
- Special Evidence Unit
SF
- SF
- (s) Fleet Submarine (retired US Navy hull classification)
- (i) San Francisco
- Science fiction
- (s) South Africa (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- (i) Speculative fiction
- Special Forces
- SFA
- SFE
- SFF — (i) Standard File Format
- sf&f — (i) Science fiction & fantasy
- SFM — Switch to Facebook Mode, i.e. to message someone on Facebook instead of texting as it is less disruptive in the sense of the phone not making sound or vibrating, for a period of time
- SFOB — (i) Special Forces Operations Base
- SFOR — (p) UN Stabilisation Force (in Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- SFU — (i) Simon Fraser University (Canada)
SG
- sg — (s) Sango language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Sg — (s) Seaborgium
- SG
- SGC
- SGD — (s) Singapore dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SGML — (i) Standard Generalized Markup Language
- SGP — (s) Singapore (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SGS
- (s) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
- (i) Svalbard Ground Station (Landsat)
- Société Générale de Surveillance
SH
- sh — (s) Serbo-Croatian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SH
- (s) Saint Helena (ISO 3166 digram)
- (p) SONATRACH (Algerian petroleum company)
- SHAC
- SHAPE — (a) Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
- SHF — (i) Super High Frequency
- SHN — (s) Saint Helena (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SHO – (a) Showtime (see also sho.com)
- SHOALS — (a) Scanning Hydrographic Operational Airborne Lidar Survey
- SHORAD — (p) Short Range Air Defence
- SHORADEZ — (p) SHORAD Engagement Zone
- SHP — (s) Saint Helena pound (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SHRA — (s) Rain Showers (METAR Code)
- SHSN — (s) Snow Showers (METAR Code)
SI
- si — (s) Sinhala language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Si — (s) Silicon
- SI
- (s) Slovenia (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country code digram)
- (i) Socialist International
- Sports Illustrated
- Système International (French, International System of Units)
- SIA — (s) Singapore Airlines (ICAO code)
- SIA — (i) Survivors of Incest Anonymous
- SIAM — (i) Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
- SIC — (a) Standard Industrial Classification
- SICS — (a/i) Swedish Institute of Computer Science
- SIDS — (a) Sudden infant death syndrome
- SIDU — (i) select, insert, delete, update. See Create, read, update and delete
- SIF — (i) Selective Identification Feature
- SIFF — (i) Successor IFF
- SIG
- (i) Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (German, "Swiss Industry Company"). See also SIG Sauer, a firearms manufacturer spun off from the aforementioned company in 2000.
- (p) .signature (UNIX shell/Internet standard file name)
- (a/i) Special Interest Group
- SIGCAT — (a) Special Interest Group for CD-ROM Applications and Technology
- SIGINT — (p) Signals Intelligence
- SIGMET — (p) Significant Meteorological Information
- SIIT
- SIMAC — (a) Semantic Interaction with Music Audio Contents
- SIMLAS — (p) Soldier Integrated Multipurpose Laser System
- SIMM — (a) Single In-line Memory Module
- SIMNET — (p) SIMulator NETwork, later SIMulation NETwork
- SIMNET-D - (p) SIMNET-Developmental
- SIMP — (a) Strongly Interacting Massive Particle
- SIMPLE
- (a) Satellite Interactive Multimedia Platform for Low-cost Earth stations
- (p) Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (as used in SIMPLE IRA)
- (a) Standard Interface for Multiple Platform Link Evaluation (NATO STANAG 5602)
- sin — (s) Sinhala language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SIN — (a) Social Insurance Number (Canada)
- SINCGARS — (p) SINgle Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System
- SIP
- (i) Session Initiation Protocol
- State Implementation Plan
- System Improvement Program
- Systematic Investment Plan
- SIPP — (a) Self-Invested Personal Pension
- Siri – (a) Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface (Apple iOS software)
- SIRI – (a) Service Interface for Real Time Information
- SiS — (i) Silicon Integrated Systems
- SIS — (i) UK Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6)
- SISO
- SIW — (i) Simulation Interoperability Workshop
- SIYSS — (i) Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar
SJ
- SJ
- (s) Svalbard and Jan Mayen (ISO 3166 digram)
- (i) Societas Iesu (Latin: The Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order)
- (i) Statens Järnvägar (Swedish State Railways)
- SJA — (i) Staff Judge Advocate (military law)
- SJC — (i) Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (note: the highest court in the state of Maine is also called the Supreme Judicial Court)
- SJM — (s) Svalbard and Jan Mayen (ISO 3166 trigram)
SK
- sk — (s) Slovak language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SK
- (s) Saskatchewan (postal symbol)
- Slovakia (ISO 3166 digram)
- SKC — (s) Clear Sky (METAR Code)
- SKK — (s) Slovak koruna (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SKM — (s) Sikkim (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1975)
- SKU - (i) Stock Keeping Unit
SL
- sl — (s) Slovene language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SL
- (s) Sierra Leone (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country code digram)
- (i) Start Line
- SLA
- (i) Service Level Agreement
- Symbionese Liberation Army
- SLAA — (i) Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous
- SLAC — (a) Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
- SLAN — (i) sine loco, anno, nomine (Latin, “without place, year, or name”)
- SLAPP — (a) Strategic lawsuit against public participation
- SLB — (s) Solomon Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SLBM — (i) Sea/Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile
- SLC — (i) Scan Line Corrector
- SLE — (s) Sierra Leone (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SLI/SLi
- SLIT — (p) SubLingual ImmunoTherapy
- slk — (s) Slovak language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SLL — (s) Sierra Leone leone (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SLO — (s) Slovenia (IOC trigram, but not FIFA or ISO 3166)
- SLOC
- (a) Sea Lines Of Communication
- Source Lines Of Code
- SLORC — (a) State Law and Order Restoration Council (of Burma)
- SLP
- (i) Sea Level Pressure
- (i) Super Long Play
- slph — (s) Standard litre per hour (air flow)
- slpm — (s) Standard litre per minute (air flow)
- slps — (s) Standard litre per second (air flow)
- SLR — (i) Single-Lens Reflex (camera)
- SLT
- (i) Single Lens Translucent
- (i) Speech and language therapist
- (i) Solid Logic Technology (electronics)
- Swing Landing Trainer (paratroops)
- (i)Secondary lymphoid tissue
- slv — (s) Slovenian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SLV — (s) El Salvador (ISO 3166 trigram)
SM
- sm — (s) Samoan language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Sm — (s) Samarium
- SM
- (i) Sado-Masochism
- (s) San Marino (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country code digram)
- (i) Soldier's Manual
- (s) Submarine Minelayer (US Navy hull classification)
- SMA — (i) Scan Mirror Assembly
- SMART — (a) Subject Matter And Requirements Team
- SMART — (a) Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
- SMASS — (a) Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey
- SMCT — (i) Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks
- SMD — (i) Surface Mount Device
- SMDR — (i) Station Message Detail Recording
- sme — (s) Northern Sami language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SME
- (i) Scan Mirror Electronics
- Subject Matter Expert
- SMG
- SMH — (a) Shaking My Head
- SMil — (a) Sadomasochisterne i landet (Danish SM organisation)
- SMIL — (a) Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
- smo — (s) Samoan language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SMP — (i) Standard Military Pattern
- SM&R — (i) Source, Maintenance, and Recoverability
- SMR — (s) San Marino (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SMS — many, including: Short message service; see entry
- SMTP — (i) Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
- SMU — (i) Southern Methodist University
- SMX
- many, including: (i) Server Macro Expansion
- (p) Solaris MINIX
- (p) Spatial multiplexing
- (p) Sulfamethoxazole; see entry
- SMZ
- many, including: (i) Silver Mt. Zion
- (p) Sulfamethazine
- (p) Sulfamethoxazole; see entry
SN
- sn — (s) Shona language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Sn — (s) Tin (Latin Stannum)
- SN
- (s) Senegal (ISO 3166 digram)
- Singapore (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- Snow (METAR Code)
- SuperNova
- Screen Name
- sna — (s) Shona language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SNAFU — (a) “Situation Normal — All Fouled/Fucked Up”
- SNAP — (p) Supernova/Acceleration Probe
- SNCB — (i) Société nationale des chemins de fer de Belgique (French for “Belgian Railways National Society”, NMBS in Dutch)
- SNCF — (i) Société nationale des chemins de fer français (French for “French Railways National Society”)
- snd — (s) Sindhi language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SND — (i) Standard Nomenclature Database
- SNE — (i) Synthetic Natural Environment
- SNES — Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- SNÉTA — (a) Syndicat national pour l'étude des transports aériens (French for “Aerial transport Study National Syndicate”, 1919–1923)
- SNG — (i) Satellite News Gathering (television)
- SNL
- (i) Saturday Night Live (television)
- (i) Società Navigazione del Lago di Lugano
- SNM — (i) Special Nuclear Material
- SNMP — (i) Simple Network Management Protocol
- SNOBOL — (p) StriNg Oriented symBOlic Language
- SNP — (i) Single-nucleotide polymorphism
- SNR
- (i) SuperNova Remnant
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio
- SNRI — (i) Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor
- SNS — (i) Spallation Neutron Source
- SNU — (i) Solar Neutrino Unit
SO
- so — (s) Somali language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SO
- (i) Shared Object (Unix)
- Sheriff's Office
- Significant other
- (s) Somalia (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country code digram)
- SOA
- SOAP
- (a) Simple Object Access Protocol
- Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (U.S. medical residency matching)
- SOB
- (i) Son Of a Bitch
- Same Old Bullshit
- SOC — (a) Sector Operations Centre
- SOCCSKSARGEN — (p) South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos City (a region in the Philippines; pronounced “sock-sar-gen”)
- SOCOM — (p) (U.S.) Special Operations Command
- SoCon – (p) Southern Conference (U.S. college sports)
- SOD
- (i/a) School Of Dentistry
- Statement Of Difference[s]
- Statement Of Direction
- Statement Of Documentation
- Statement Of Duty/Duties
- SOE
- (i) Secret Of Evermore
- Special Operations Executive (WWII British organization)
- State Of Emissions (EW)
- SOF
- (a/i) Special Operations Force(s)
- Status of Forces
- SOFIA — (a) Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy
- SOGAT
- (a) Society of Graphical and Allied Trades
- Former British printing union
- SOHC — (i) Single-OverHead-Cam engine
- SOHO — (p) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
- SOI — (i) Signal Operating Instruction
- SOL — (i) Shit Out of Luck
- SOLIS — (i) Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun
- som — (s) Somali language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SOM
- (a) Simulation Object Model
- (s) Somalia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- Sonar — (p) SOund Navigation And Ranging
- SOP
- (i) Standing/Standard Operating Procedure
- State of Play
- SOR
- (i) State Of Readiness
- Statement Of Requirements
- SOS
- SOSTAR — (a) Stand-Off Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar
- sot — (s) Sotho language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SOUTHAG — (p) Southern Army Group
- SOUTHCOM — (p) (U.S.) Southern Command
- SOV — (i) Single Occupant Vehicle
- SOW — (i) Statement Of Work
- SOWHAT — (p) RESNA Subcommittee on Wheelchairs and Transportation
- SOX — (p) Sarbanes–Oxley Act
SP
- Sp
- (p) Special
- Spring tide (nautical charts)
- (i) sine prole (Latin, “without offspring”)
- SP
- (i) Security Police
- Self-Propelled
- Shore Patrol
- (s) Spain (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- (i) Start Point
- Strong Point
- spa — (s) Spanish language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SPAAG — (a) Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun
- SPACECOM — (p) (U.S.) Space Command
- SPAL — (a) Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor ("Art & Labor Sports Club", with the "SP" from Italian and "AL" from Latin), Italian football club
- Spaser — (a) Surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
- SPC — (i) Secretariat of the Pacific Community
- SPCO — (i) Single-Pole Change Over
- SPD
- (i) Shimano Pedaling Dynamics
- Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany)
- SPDT — (i) Single-Pole Double-Throw
- SPEAC — (a) Stop Primate Experiments at Cambridge (later became SPEAK)
- SPECTRE — SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion
- S.P.E.A.R. - Spontaneous Protection Enabling Accelerated Response
- SPEED — (a) Subsistence Preparation by Electronic Energy Diffusion (early military microwave oven)
- SPIE — (i) originally the Society for Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (“SPIE — The International Society for Optical Engineering” 1981–2007, “SPIE” since 2007)
- SPL
- (i) Scottish Premier League
- Superior Parietal Lobule
- Sound Pressure Level
- SPM — (s) Saint Pierre and Miquelon (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SPOD — (a/i) Sea Port of Debarkation
- SPOE — (a/i) Sea Port of Embarkation
- SPOT — (a) Satellite pour l'observation de la Terre (French, “Satellite for Earth Observation”)
- SPQR — (i) Senatus Populusque Romanus (Latin “The Senate and the People of Rome”)
- sps — (i) sine prole superstite (Latin, “without surviving issue”)
- SPS — (i) Standard Positioning Service (GPS)
- SPST — (i) Single-Pole Single-Throw
SQ
- sq — (s) Albanian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SQ — (i) Sound Quality
- SQ — (i) Standard Quality
- sqi — (s) Albanian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SQL — (i/a) Structured Query Language (“seek-well”)
- SQUID — (p) Superconducting QUantum Interference Device
- SQOR — (p) Succinate:Quinone OxidoReductase, enzyme superfamily including quinone-linked succinate dehydrogenase and fumarate reductase
SR
- sr — (s) Serbian language (ISO 639-1 code)
- Sr — (s) Strontium
- SR
- (i) Sound Reinforcement
- Supply Route
- (s) Suriname (ISO 3166 digram)
- (i) Sveriges Radio (Swedish Radio Ltd)
- SR — (i) Sustained release of a drug
- SRAM
- (p) Scott (King), Ray (Day), SAM (Patterson) — founders of bicycle component manufacturer SRAM Corporation
- (p) Static Random Access Memory (“ess-ram”)
- SR-ATGW — (i) Short-Range Anti-Tank Guided Weapon
- SRB — (i) Solid Rocket Booster
- SRBM — (i) Short-Range Ballistic Missile (cf. IRBM, ICBM)
- SRC — (i) Scheduled Removal Component
- srd — (s) Sardinian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SRD
- (i) Science Requirements Document
- (s) Surinam dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SREL — (i) Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
- SRG
- (i) SACEUR Rover Group
- Special Republican Guard
- SRGW — (i) Short-Range Guided Weapon
- SRL
- (i) Savannah River Laboratory
- Single Rocket Launcher
- Survival Research Labs
- SRM — (i) Specified Risk Material(s)
- srp — (s) Serbian language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SRS — (i) Savannah River Site
- SRSP — (i) Science and Religion in Schools Project
- SRTP — (i) [Secure Real-time Transport Protocol]
SS
- ss — (s) Swati language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SS
- (s) Sand Storm (METAR Code)
- (p) Schutzstaffel (German, roughly "Protection Squadron"; Nazi elite Praetorian guard)
- (i) U.S. Secret Service
- Spanish Ship
- Stainless steel
- Stockholm Skins
- (s) Submarine (US Navy hull classification)
- (i) Super Sport
- Surface-to-Surface (missile)
- SSA
- (s) Cargo Submarine (US Navy hull classification)
- (i) Social Security Administration (U.S.)
- Statistics South Africa
- SSB — (a) Single-sideband modulation
- SSB — (i) Sacramento Sustainable Business
- SSBN — (s) Nuclear-Powered Ballistic Missile Submarine (US Navy hull classification)
- SSC
- (i) Safe, Sane, Consensual (SM phrase)
- Secondary Somatosensory Cortex
- Smaller-Scale Contingency
- U.S. Army Soldiers System Center (Natick, Massachusetts)
- Superconducting Super Collider
- SSCCATAGAPP — Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples, And Teens And Gays Against Parasitic Parents (fictional organization from The Simpsons)
- SSD
- (i) Solid-state drive
- (s) South Sudan (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SSDC — (i) U.S. Space and Strategic Defense Command
- SSDD
- (i) Same Shit, Different Day
- Single-Sided Double-Density (floppy disk)
- SSE
- (s) South South-East
- (i) Streaming SIMD Extensions
- SSG — (s) Guided Missile Submarine (retired US Navy hull classification)
- SSGN — (s) Nuclear-Powered Guided Missile Submarine (US Navy hull classification)
- SSH — (i) Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale
- SSK — (s) Hunter-Killer Submarine (retired US Navy hull classification)
- SSKP — (i) Single-Shot Kill Probability
- SSL — (i) Secure Sockets Layer
- SSM — (i) Surface-to-Surface (Guided) Missile
- SSN
- (s) Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarine (US Navy hull classification)
- (i) SIM Serial Number
- Social Security Number (U.S.)
- Socialist Solidarity Network
- Subsystem number (SCCP, SS7)
- SSNW — (i) Same Shit, New Wrapping
- SSO — (s) Submarine Oiler (retired US Navy hull classification)
- SSP — (s) Submarine Transport (retired US Navy hull classification)
- SSR
- (s) Radar Picket Submarine (retired US Navy hull classification)
- (i) Solid State Recorder
- SSRI
- SSRN
- (i) Social Science Research Network
- (s) Nuclear-Powered Radar Picket Submarine (retired US Navy hull classification)
- SSS
- (i) Siding Spring Survey
- Side Side Side (an acronym for remembering congruent triangles)
- (i) Sigue Sigue Sputnik (band)
- S/SSM — (i) Surface-to-Subsurface Missile
- SST
- (i) SuperSonic Transport
- (s) Training Submarine (US Navy hull classification)
- Saturated Suction Temperature (refrigeration cycles)
- SSTO — (i) Single-Stage To Orbit
- SSV — (i) Soft-Skinned Vehicle (i.e., unarmoured)
- ssw — (s) Swati language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SSW — (s) South South-West
ST
- st — (s) Sotho language (ISO 639-1 code)
- ST
- (s) Saint Lucia (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- São Tomé and Príncipe (ISO 3166 digram)
- STA
- (i) Scheduled Time of Arrival
- Surveillance and Target Acquisition
- STAG — (a) (U.S.) Strategy and Tactics Group
- STAGE — (a) Scenario Toolkit And Generation Environment
- STANAG — (p) (NATO) Standardisation Agreement
- STAR
- (a) Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (NASA)
- Simulation of Tactical Alternative Responses
- Special Threat Analysis and Recognition
- STAT
- (a) Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (cell biology)
- Special Tertiary Admissions Test (Australia)
- STB - Surface Transportation Board[2]
- STC — (i) Superior Temporal Cortex
- S&TCD — (i) CERDEC Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate
- STD
- (s) São Tomé and Príncipe dobra (ISO 4217 currency code)
- (i) Sexually Transmitted Disease
- STDM — (i) Statistical Time Division Multiplexing
- STEM
- (a) Scanning transmission electron microscopy
- Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
- (p) Spatiaotemporal Epidemiological Modeler (IBM-developed software)
- STENTOR — (p) Satellite de télécommunications pour expérimenter de nouvelles technologies en orbite (French, “Orbital New Technology Experimental Telecommunications Satellite”)
- STFU
- (i) Southern Tenant Farmers Union
- Stuff You[citation needed]
- "Shut the fuck up!"'
- STH — Sonic The Hedgehog
- STI
- STK — (i) Satellite Tool Kit
- STM — (i) Short Term Memory
- STOL — (i) Short Take-Off and Landing
- STOVL — (i) Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing
- STP
- (s) São Tomé and Príncipe (ISO 3166 trigram)
- (i) Standard Temperature and Pressure
- STR — (i) Short Tandem Repeat (DNA analysis)
- STRATCOM — (p) United States Strategic Command
- STRICOM
- (p) U.S. Army Simulation, Training & Instrumentation Command (1992–)
- Strike Command (1962–1971)
- STRIVE — (a) Synthetic Tactical Real-time Interactive Virtual Environment
- STSM — (i) Senior Technical Staff Member
- Stuka — (p) Sturzkampfflugzeug (German WWII dive bomber)
SU
- su — (s) Sundanese language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SU
- (s) Soviet Union (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1992)
- Sudan (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- SUB — (i) Student Union Building
- SuD — (a) Subject under Discussion
- SUDC — Swedish United Dawah Center, a salafist Islamic organisation in Sweden
- SUI
- (a) Sonic user interface
- (s) Switzerland (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
- SUK — Start Up Kit
- sun — (s) Sundanese language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SUN — (s)
- Soviet Union (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1992)
- Stanford University Network that led to Sun Microsystems
- SUNY — (a) State University of New York (usually pronounced “sue-knee”)
- SUR — (s) Suriname (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SURTASS — (p) Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System
- SUSAT — (a) Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux
- SUV — (i) Sport Utility Vehicle
SV
- sv — (s) Swedish language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SV
- (s) El Salvador (ISO 3166 digram)
- (p) Sportverein (German for “Sport Association”, as in Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen)
- SVC — (i) Secondary Visual Cortex
- SvD — (p) Svenska Dagbladet (Swedish newspaper)
- SVD
- (i) Singular Value Decomposition
- Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova (Снайперская винтовка Драгунова, Russian for “Dragunov Sniper Rifle”)
- SVG — (i) Scalable Vector Graphics
- SVK — (s) Slovakia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SVM
- (p) Stroboscopic effect Visibility Measure; a measure for assessing a type of temporal light artefacts
- (i) Support Vector Machine (artificial intelligence)
- SVN — (s) Slovenia (ISO 3166 and FIFA trigram)
- SVO — (i) subject–verb–object
- SVR — (i) Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (Служба Внешней Разведки, Russian for "Foreign Intelligence Service")
SW
- sw — (s) Swahili language (ISO 639-1 code)
- SW
- (s) South-West ordinal direction
- Sweden (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- (a) Shortwave
- swa — (s) Swahili language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SWA
- (i/a) Secure Web Access
- South-West Asia
- SWAC — (p) Southwestern Athletic Conference
- SWALK — (a) Sealed With A Loving Kiss
- SWAN — (a) System for Wearable Audio Navigation
- SWAP — (a) Surface Waters Acidification Programme
- SWAPO — (a) South-West Africa People's Organisation
- SWAT — (a) Special Weapons And Tactics
- swe — (s) Swedish language (ISO 639-2 code)
- SWE — (s) Sweden (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SWF
- (p) Shockwave Flash file (“swiff”)
- Single White Female
- SWG
- (i) Surface Warfare Group
- Symbology Working Group
- SWHR — (i) Society for Women's Health Research
- SWIG — (a) Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator
- SWIR — (a/i) Short Wave InfraRed (“ss-why-are” or “swhirr”)
- SWLABR
- (i) She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow
- Cream song (Bruce, Clapton and Baker)
- SWORD — (p) Subjective WORkload Dominance
- SWORDS — (a) Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System
- SWOT — (a) Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (mnemonic)
- SWP
- (i) Special Working Party (“swipp”)
- Systematic Westing Plan (a plan of periodic westing of shares or mutual funds worth a fixed amount of money)
- Skill with prize (UK pub quiz machines — quality titles include: Pub Quiz, Quiz City, Frog in a Liquidizer, Who Wants To Win a Tenner?)
- SWT — (i) Sea Water Tank
- SWV — (i) Sisters With Voices (American female R&B vocal group)
- SWZ — (s) Swaziland (ISO 3166 trigram)
SX
- SX — (i) Sonic X
- SXM
- (s) Sint Maarten (ISO 3166 trigram)
- (i) Stream X-Machine
SY
- SY — (s) Syria (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country code digram)
- SYC — (s) Seychelles (ISO 3166 trigram)
- SYLK — Microsoft 'Symbolic Link' data file format
- SYP — (s) Syrian pound (ISO 4217 currency code)
- SYR — (s) Syria (ISO 3166 trigram)
- Syriza — (p) Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás (Greek Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς,"Coalition of the Radical Left")
- SysML — (p) System Modeling Language
- Sysop — (p) System Operator
SZ
- SZ
- (s) Swaziland (ISO 3166 digram)
- Switzerland (FIPS 10-4 country code)
- SZL — (s) Swaziland lilangeni (ISO 4217 currency code)
References
- ^ Society of Automotive Engineers
- ^ Replaced Interstate Commerce Commission on January 1st, 1996