You may have noticed some acronyms while studying Japanese that use English letters, like “OL” or “NG”. They are used somewhat commonly, and if you hear or see one you might not know what it means or how to look it up (since they don’t contain any kana or kanji).
Here’s a short list of some commonly used acronyms and what they stand for.
| Acronym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OL | Office Lady （オルエル） |
| NG | No Good （エヌジー）, the first time I heard someone say this I was wondering why they suddenly mentioned “energy”, and on top of it incorrectly. （エネルギー） |
| KY | Kuuki wo Yomenai （ケイワイ）, the K and Y are taken from 空気を読めない. If you don’t know what this expression means, check out this blog post |
| CM | Commercial （シーエム）, from commercial message |
| PV | Promotional Video （ピーヴィー）, which are music videos and clips |
| JR | Japanese Railway （ジェイアール） |
| OP | Opening （オーピー）, from opening sequence, like an anime’s |
| NEET | Someone not in education, employment, or training （ニート） |
| w | “lol”, from the w in 笑う （わらう）, or to laugh. Some use 笑 instead of w |
On a related note, some words are abbreviated or contracted, which might also make it tricky if you are only familiar with the full version of the word or where it originated from in English. Here are some examples of some abbreviated/contracted words:
| Abbreviation/Contraction | Meaning |
|---|---|
 マクド |
McDonald’s, from マクドナルド |
| 東大 |
University of Tokyo, from 東京大学 |
| ワープロ |
Word processor, from ワードプロセッサー |
| アニメ |
Anime, from アニメーション |
| ポケモン |
Pokemon, from ポケットモンスター |
| パソコン |
Computer, from パーソナルコンピューター |
| ブラピー | Brad Pitt, from ブラッド・ピート |
If you can think of any other acronyms or abbreviations you know, be sure to leave them in the comments!