Is there a specific name for "pick-only-consonants" type abbreviations?

Question

I find it very common for English speakers to shorten a single word to 3–4 letters long by picking its first letter and some (or all) of its subsequent consonants, like so:

• statement => stmt
• something => sth
• international => intl
• average => avg
• attack => atk
• mind => mnd
• hours => hrs
• power => pwr

Is there a specific name for this? I mean, something more specific than abbreviation?

It's also possible to shorten a word by simply picking the first 3–4 letters:

• second => sec
• private => pri
• information => info
• power => pow

Is there any specific term to refer to this as opposed to the "consonant-picking" strategy?

Answer 1

As @Andrew said in the comment, we call it (all of them) abbreviation. However, if you want to be more specific,

There are four different types of abbreviations in English:

Initialism
Acronym
Shortening
Contraction

Initialism

An initialism is formed from the first letters of a group of words. We pronounce each letter individually.

FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation

ASAP – as soon as possible

CD – compact disc

CEO – Chief Executive Officer

FAQ – frequently asked questions

PLC – public limited company

UFO – unidentified flying object

USA – United States of America

VAT – value added tax

Acronyms

An acronym is formed from the first letters of a group of words.

We pronounce the acronym as a word.

NASA – National Aeronautical and Space Administration

NATO – North American Treaty Organisation

OPEC – Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries

PIN – personal identification number (code for bank card)

RAM – random access memory (computer memory)

SIM – subscriber identification module (card for mobile phone)

VAT – value added tax (sales tax in the UK)

ZIP – zone improvement plan (post code in the USA)

VAT (value added tax) is a special case. It can be 2 types of abbreviation:

It can be an acronym and we pronounce it as one word /væt/ (rhymes with cat)

It can also be treated as an initialism and we pronounce each letter separately “v”, “a”, “t”

We must write acronyms with capital letters.

Shortenings

A shortening is an abbreviation in which the beginning or end of the word has been omitted.

There are 2 types:

Type 1 shortenings (treated as real words)

ad – advertisement (to promote a product or service)

app – application (software)

flu – influenza (an illness)

blog – weblog (a type of website)

rhino – rhinoceros (wild animal)

We use type 1 shortenings like real words. We write them and say them as one word.

Rules for capital letters

The first letter is a capital letter only if the full word starts with a capital letter:

Example: full form is “Briton” (with a capital first letter) therefore the shortening also must start with a capital letter: “Brit”.

Example sentence: There are lots of Brits living in Spain.

Rules for full stops (periods)

We do NOT use a full stop after type 1 shortenings:

I placed an ad in the newspaper. correct

I placed an ad. in the newspaper. wrong

Type 2 shortenings (not treated as real words)

Feb. – February

Sat. – Saturday

Type 2 shortenings are only used in writing. But when we say or read them, we say the full version of the word.

Writing: “Please send me the Feb accounts.”

Speaking: “Please send me the February accounts.”

Rules for capital letters

The first letter of a type 2 shortening is a capital letter only if the full word starts with a capital letter.

Contractions

Contractions are abbreviations in which we omit letters from the middle of a word. We do NOT write a full stop at the end of a contraction. The first letter is a capital letter only if the full word starts with a capital letter.

Type 1 contractions (missing letters from 1 word)

Dr – Doctor

govt – government

St – Saint

Mr – Mister

Type 2 contractions (missing letters from more than 1 word)

We use an apostrophe to represent the missing letters:

she's/he‘s – he is/she is

I'd/they‘d – I would/they would

I‘ve – I have

Source for abbreviations:

https://www.abbreviations.com/

https://data.grammarbook.com/blog/abbreviations/abbreviations-acronyms-and-initialisms-revisited/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abbreviation

https://www.crownacademyenglish.com/types-english-abbreviations/