anacronym

Perhaps blend of anachronism +‎ acronym but perhaps an- +‎ acronym, in either case indicating an acronymic word that has lost much of its acronymic identity because people usually no longer focus on the etymonic origin when using the word.

• IPA^(key): /əˈnæk.ɹə.nɪm/
• Rhymes: -ækɹənɪm
• Homophone: anachronym

anacronym (plural anacronyms)

1. An acronym that is usually no longer thought of as such, but instead treated as a regular word and styled in lower case despite its etymological origin.

   When you write about using a waterproof laser pointer while scuba diving, you probably aren’t going to write about “a L.A.S.E.R. pointer for S.C.U.B.A. diving”, because the words laser and scuba are anacronyms.

Do not confuse an anacronym (such as radar or scuba) with an anachronym (such as lead pencil or tin foil), despite the homophony and nearly identical spelling of the terms.

• anacronymic

• backronym

• “anacronym”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.