List of acronyms: M
This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter M.
An acronym is an abbreviation pronounced as a series of constituent letters; an initialism is an abbreviation whose pronunciation is wholly or partly the names of constituent letters; and a pseudo-blend is an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters means that it cannot be considered a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).
- (a) = acronym in the example: SARS - (a) Severe acute respiratory syndrome
- (i) = initialism in the example: CD - (i) Compact disc
- (p) = pseudo-blend in the example: UNIFEM - (p) United Nations Development Fund for Women
- (s) = symbol (none of the above, stands for and is read as something else; for example: MHz - Megahertz)
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Please add your own, in a quasi-dictionary order with lowercase treated the same as uppercase and ignoring non-alphanumeric characters (hyphens and such). This means that only alphanumeric characters have any significance in determining order, and that lowercase letters occupy the same ordering position as uppercase (in tie-breaker cases, list lower case first). For example: Algol appears before ALS. (This differs from a strict ASCII ordering.)
M
- MA - (s) Madagascar (NATO country code) - Massachusetts (postal symbol) - Morocco (ISO 3166 digram)
- MAA - (i) Mathematical Association of America
- MAC - (s) Macao (ISO 3166 trigram) - (a) U.S. Military Airlift Command (1966-1992)
- MACHO - (p) MAssive Compact Halo Object
- MAD - (a) Magnetic Anomaly Detector - Mutual Assured Destruction
- MADD - (a) Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Myoadenylate Deaminase Deficiency
- MAGTF - (i) Marine Air-Ground Task Force
- MALD - (a) Miniature Air-Launched Decoy
- MANPADS - (p) Man-Portable Air Defence System
- MAO - (i) Molėtų astronomijos observatorija (Moletai Astronomical Observatory) - MonoAmine Oxidase
- MAQS - (a) Museum of the American Quilter's Society ("max")
- MAR - (s) Morocco (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MARFORCC - (p) Marine Force Component Commander
- MAS - (i) Military Agency for Standardization
- MASAS - (a) Monte Agliale Supernovae and Asteroid Survey
- Maser - (a) Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
- MASH - (a) Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
- MATS - (a) U.S. Military Air Transport Service (1948-1966)
- MAVS - (a/i) Mobile Artillery Vehicle System
MB
- MB - (s) Manitoba (postal symbol)
- MBA - (i) Main Battle Area - Masters of Business Administration
- MBCS - (i) Multi-Byte Character Set
- MBE - (i) Member of the Order of the British Empire
- MBTA - (i) Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority - (i) Migratory Bird Treaty Act
MC
- MC - (i) Military Cross (bravery award) - (s) Monaco (ISO 3166 digram)
- MCA - (i) MultiChannel Analyzer
- MCC - (i) Mission Control Centre - Movement Control Centre
- MCD - (i) Minimal Cerebral Dysfunction
- MC&G - (i) Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy
- MCM - (i) Mine Counter-Measures
- MCO - (s) Monaco (ISO 3166 trigram) - (i) Movement Control Officer
- MCP - (i) Maintenance Collection Point
- MCT - (i) Movement Control Team
MD
- Md - (s) Mendelevium
- MD - (s) Maryland (postal symbol) - (i) Medicinae Doctor (Doctor of Medicine/Medical Doctor) - Mentioned in Dispatches (military) - (s) Moldova (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
- MDA - (i) Main Defensive Area - (s) Moldova (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MDF - (i) Main Distribution Frame - Medium-Density Fibreboard
- MDG - (s) Madagascar (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MDMA - (i) MethyleneDioxy-MethylAmphetamine (also known as "Ecstasy")
- MDT - (i) Mountain Daylight Saving Time (UTC-6 hours)
- MDV - (s) Maldives (ISO 3166 trigram)
ME
- ME - (s) Maine (postal symbol) - (i) Memory Effect
- MECC - (a) Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (or Corporation, sources differ)
- MEDEVAC - (p) Medical Evacuation
- MEF - (i) U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force - Minimum Essential Facility - Mission Essential Force
- MEM - (i) Message Exchange Mechanism
- MEO - (a) Medium Earth Orbit
- MEP - (i) Member of the European Parliament
- MET - (p) Meteorological
- METAR - (p) [Meteorological] Aviation Routine weather report
- METOC - (p) Meteorological and Oceanographic
- METT-T - (a) Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops, and Time available (mnemonic)
- MEX - (s) Mexico (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MEZ - (i) Missile Engagement Zone
MF
MG
- Mg - (s) Magnesium
- MG - (i) Machine Gun - (s) Madagascar (ISO 3166 digram) - Mongolia (NATO country code) - (i) Morris Garage
- MGB - (i) Medium Girder Bridge
- MGM - (i) Metro Goldwyn Mayer
MH
- MH - (s) Marshall Islands (postal symbol; ISO 3166 digram)
- MHL - (s) Marshall Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MHz - (s) MegaHertz
MI
- MI - (s) Malawi (NATO country code) - Michigan (postal symbol) - Midway Islands (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1986) - (i) Military Intelligence
- MIA - (i) Missing In Action
- MIB - (i) Men In Black - Mint In Box (Internet auction/trading listings)
- MICOM - (p) Missile Command
- MICV - (i) Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicle
- MID - (s) Midway Islands (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1986)
- MIDS - (i) Multi-Function Information Distribution System
- MIFG - (s) Shallow Fog (METAR Code)
- MILF - (a) Moro Islamic Liberation Front - Mother I'd Like To Fuck
- MILSATCOM - (p) Military Satellite Communications
- MIMAROPA - (p) Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan (a region in the Philippines)
- MIP - (a) Multilateral Interoperability Programme - Multiple Identity Poster
- MIRV - (a) Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle
- MIS - (a) Management Information Systems - Museum Information System
- MISSI - (a) Multilevel Information System Security Initiative
- MIT - (i) Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Milli Istihbarad Teskilati (Intelligence service of Turkey) - methylisothiazoline
- MITS - see entry
MJ
MK
- MK - (s) Air Mauritius (IATA code) - Macedonia (ISO 3166 digram) - (i) Mortal Kombat (game)
- MKD - (s) Macedonia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MKO - (i) Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (Arabic "People's Mujahedin of Iran")
- MKS - (i) Metre-Kilogram-Second system of units
- MKT - (i) Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (1865-1989) - Mortal Kombat Trilogy
ML
- ML - (s) Mali (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram) - (i) Maximum Likelihood
- MLA - (i) Member of Legislative Assembly
- MLB - (i) Major League Baseball
- MLE - (i) Maximum Likelihood Estimation
- MLI - (s) Mali (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MLRS - (i) Multiple-Launch Rocket System
- MLS - (i) Major League Soccer - Multiple Listing Service
- MLT - (s) Malta (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MLVW - (i) Medium Logistics Vehicle, Wheeled
MM
- MM - (s) Myanmar (ISO 3166 digram)
- MMC - (i) Materiel Management Centre
- MMEV - (i) Multi-Mission Effects Vehicle
- MMO - (i) Massively Multiplayer Online (computer game)
- MMR - (s) Myanmar (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MMS - (i) Multimission Modular Spacecraft
- MMU - (i) Manned Manoeuvring Unit
MN
- Mn - (s) Manganese
- MN - (s) Minnesota (postal symbol) - Monaco (NATO country code) - Mongolia (ISO 3166 digram)
- MND - (i) Motor Neurone Disease
- MNG - (s) Mongolia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MNP - (s) Northern Mariana Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MNT - (p) Molecular nanotechnology
MO
- Mo - (s) Molybdenum
- MO - (s) Macao (ISO 3166 digram) - Missouri (postal symbol) - (i) modus operandi (Latin, "mode of operation") - (s) Morocco (NATO country code)
- MOAB - (a) Massive Ordnance Air Blast (official) - Mother Of All Bombs (slang)
- MOC - (i) Mission Operations Centre
- ModSAF - (p) Modular Semi-Automated Forces (military simulation)
- Moe - (a) Marvel of entertainment
- MOE - (i) Measure Of Effectiveness
- MOF - (a/i) Ministry of Finance
- MOFA - (a/i) Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- MoMA - (a) Museum of Modern Art
- MOOTW - (p) Military Operations Other Than War ("moot-double-you")
- MOP - (i) Measure Of Performance
- MOPE - (a) Most Oppressed People Ever (politics)
- MOPP - (i) Mission-Oriented Protective Posture
- MOS - (i) Military Occupational Specialty - (a) Mit Out Sound / Mit Out Sprache
- MOSFET - (a) Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor
- MOSS - (p) MObile Submarine Simulator - (a) Moving Object Support System
- MOTESS - (a) Moving Object and Transient Event Search System
- MOUT - (i) Military Operations in Urban Terrain
- MOW - (i) Maintenance of way (also MW)
- MOZ - (s) Mozambique (ISO 3166 trigram)
MP
- MP - (i) Magic Points - (s) Mauritius (NATO country code) - (i) Member of Parliament - Military Police - Missouri Pacific - (s) Northern Mariana Islands (postal symbol; ISO 3166 digram)
- MPA - (i) Maritime Patrol Aircraft - Master of Public Administration
- MPEG - (a) Motion Pictures (Coding) Experts Group
- MPEV - (i) Multi-Purpose Engineering Vehicle
MQ
- MQ - (s) Martinique (ISO 3166 digram)
MR
- MR - (s) Mauritania (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
- MRBM - (i) Medium Range Ballistic Missile
- MRI - (i) Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- MRL - (i) Multiple Rocket Launcher
- MRR - (i) Minimum-Risk Route - Maximum Rock and Roll - My Restaurant Rules
- MRT - (s) Mauritania (ISO 3166 trigram)
MS
- MS - (i) mano sinistra (Latin, "left hand") - (p) manuscript - (i) Master of Science - (p) Microsoft (sometimes M$) - (s) Mississippi (postal symbol) - Montserrat (ISO 3166 digram) - (i) Multiple Sclerosis
- M&S - (i) Modelling & Simulation
- MSB - (i) Main Support Battalion
- MSD - (i) Minimum Safe Distance
- MSDB - (i) Multi Source Data Base
- MSE - (i) Multiple Subscriber Element
- MSEC - (p) Message Security Encryption Code ("emm-sec")
- MSG - (i) MonoSodium Glutamate
- MSI - (p) Multispectral imagery
- MSIE - (i) Microsoft Internet Explorer
- MSL - (p) Missile
- MSR - (i) Main Supply Route - (s) Montserrat (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MST - (i) Madison Symmetric Torus - Mountain Standard Time (UTC-7 hours)
- MST3K or MST3k - (i) Mystery Science Theater 3000
MT
- Mt - (s) Meitnerium
- MT - (s) Malta (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram) - Montana (postal symbol)
- MTF - (i) Medical Treatment Facility
- MTOE - (p) Modified Table of Organization and Equipment ("emm-toe")
- MTQ - (s) Martinique (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MTR - (i) Main and Tail Rotor (helicopter type)
- MTS - (i) Michigan Terminal/Timesharing System - Multichannel Television Sound - Multi-Technical Services
- MTU - (i) Tankovei Mostoukladchik (Russian Танковый Мостоукладчик, "Tank Bridge-Layer") †
- MTV - (i) MainosTeleVisio (Finnish commercial TV company) - Music TeleVision
- MTVL - (i) Mobile Tracked Vehicle, Light
MU
- MU - (s) Mauritius (ISO 3166 digram) - Oman (NATO country code; from Muscat)
- MUS - (s) Mauritius (ISO 3166 trigram)
MV
MW
- MW - (i) Maintenance of way (also MOW) - (s) Malawi (ISO 3166 digram)
- MWI - (s) Malawi (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MWR - (i) Morale, Welfare, and Recreation
MX
MY
- MY - (s) Malaysia (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
- MYOB - (i) Mind Your Own Business
- MYS - (s) Malaysia (ISO 3166 trigram)
- MYT - (s) Mayotte (ISO 3166 trigram)
MZ
- MZ - (i) Mach-Zehnder (interferometer) - (s) Magnetic Azimuth - (i) Move, Zig (Zero Wing) - (s) Mozambique (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)