List of acronyms and initialisms: B

This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter B.

For the purposes of this list:

• acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as a series of constituent letters, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome
• initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc
• pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters means that it cannot stand as 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, representing and pronounced as something else; for example: MHz – Megahertz)

(Main list of acronyms and initialisms)

Contents:	Top - B0–9 BA BB BC BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BK BL BM BN BO BP BQ BR BS BT BU BV BW BX BY BZ

• B – (s) Bel – Boron

B0–9

• B10 – (i) Ben 10
• B10: AF – (i) Ben 10: Alien Force
• B10: UA – (i) Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
• B2B – (i) Business-to-business electronic commerce
• B2C – (i) Business-to-consumer electronic commerce
• B2E – (i) Business-to-employee electronic commerce

BA

• ba – (s) Bashkir language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Ba – (s) Barium
• BA – (i) Bachelor of Arts – (s) Bahrain (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Bosnia and Herzegovina (ISO 3166 digram) – (i) British Airways – British Army – Bank of America
• BAA – (i) British Airport Authority
• BAC – (a) Blood alcohol content
• BADD – (a) Battlefield Awareness and Data Dissemination
• BAE – (p) BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace, BAe)
• BAFTA – (a) British Academy of Film and Television Arts
• BAI – (i) Battlefield Air Interdiction
• bak – (s) Bashkir language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BALCO – (p) Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
• bam – (s) Bambara language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BAM – (i) Business Activity Monitoring – (s) Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BAMC – (i) Brooke Army Medical Center
• Banesto – (p) Banco Español de Crédito (Spanish, "Spanish Credit Bank")
• BAO – (i) Battlefield Air Operations
• BAOR – (i) British Army Of the Rhine
• B[a]P – (p) Benzo[a]pyrene
• BAR
  • (s) Barbados (IOC trigram, but not FIFA or ISO 3166)
  • (a) British American Racing
  • Browning Automatic Rifle
  • Buy-American Restrictions
• BARD – (a) Binational Agricultural Research and Development fund (between the US and Israel)
• BARDA – (a) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency
• BART – (a) Bay Area Rapid Transit
• BAS – (i) Battalion Aid Station
• BASE – (a) Building, Antenna, Span, Earth (parachute form)
• BASF – (i) Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik (Baden Aniline and Soda Factory, a German chemicals company)
• BASIC – (a) Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (acronym was added later, originally it was simply Basic)
• BAT – (a/i) Basic Aid Training
• BATF – (i) U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
• BATS – (a) Behavior Analysis Training System – Bradley Advanced Training System
• BATTeRS – (a) Bisei Asteroid Tracking Telescope for Rapid Survey

BB

• BB
  • (s) Barbados (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i) Boys' Brigade (Christian youth organization)
  • Brigitte Bardot (actress)
• BBB
  • (i) Better Business Bureau
  • Blood-brain barrier
• BBC
  • (i) Breeding Bird Census
  • British Broadcasting Corporation
• BBD
  • (s) Barbadian dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • (a) Bowel Bladder Dysfunction
• BBL
  • (i) Be Back Later
  • Bird Banding Laboratory
  • British Basketball League
• BBN – (i) Bolt, Beranek and Newman
• BBQ – (s) Barbecue^[1]
• BBS
  • (i) Breeding Bird Survey (North America)
  • Brigade/Battalion Battle Simulation
  • Bulletin Board System
• BBSRC – (i) U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
• BBVA – (i) Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (Spanish bank)

BC

• BC – (i) Before Christ – Blind Copy (in emailers) – Boston College – (s) Botswana (FIPS 10-4 country code; from Bechuanaland) – British Columbia (postal symbol)
• BCA – (i) Bachelor of Computer Application – Black Coaches & Administrators
• BCC – (i) Blind Carbon Copy
• BCCI – (i) Board of Control for Cricket in India – Bank of Credit and Commerce International
• BCD – (i) Binary-Coded Decimal
• BCE – (i) Banque centrale européenne – Battlefield Co-ordination Element – Before Common Era – BC Electric Company
• BCER – (i) British Columbia Electric Railway
• BCFG – (s) Patchy Fog (METAR Code)
• BCIS – (i) Battlefield Combat Identification System
• BCLL – (a) Bibliography of Celtic Latin Literature
• BCPL – (i) Basic Combined Programming Language (progenitor of C)
• BCS – (i) Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer superconduction theory – Bowl Championship Series (US college football) – Bachelor of Computer Science
• BCT – (i) Brigade Combat Team

BD

• BD – (s) Bangladesh (ISO 3166 digram) – Bermuda (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• BDA – (i) British Dental Association
• BDD – (i) Body Dysmorphic Disorder – British Defence Doctrine
• Bde – (s) Brigade
• BDFL – (i) Benevolent Dictator For Life
• BDI – (s) Burundi (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BDNF – (i) Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
• BDO – (i) Battle Dress Overgarment
• BDOS – (a) Basic Disk Operating System; part of CP/M
• BDS – (i) – Bachelor of Dental Surgery
• BDSM – (i) Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sadism and Masochism
• BDT – (s) Bangladeshi taka (ISO 4217 currency code) – (i) Bureau de développement des télécommunications (Telecommunication Development Bureau, became ITU-D)
• BDTA – (i) British Dental Trade Association
• BDU – (i) Battle-Dress Uniform

BE

• be – (s) Belarusian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Be – (s) Beryllium
• BE – (s) Belgium (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
• BEA
  • (i) Banque extérieure d'Algérie
  • British European Airways (ancestor of British Airways)
  • British Electricity Authority
• bel – (s) Belarusian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BEL – (s) Belgium (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BEM – (i) British Empire Medal – Bug-Eyed Monster
• ben – (s) Bengali language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BEN – (s) Benin (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BEO – (i) Banquet Event Order
• BERC – (a) Business Environmental Resource Center
• BER – (i) Bit Error Rate
• BES
  • (i) Budget Estimate Submission
  • (s) Caribbean Netherlands (ISO 3166 trigram; from the entity's alternate name of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba)
• BESS – (i) Business, Education, and Social Sciences
• BET – (a/i) Black Entertainment Television
• BETS – (a) Bradley Embedded Training System

BF

• BF – (s) The Bahamas (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Burkina Faso (ISO 3166 digram)
• b/f – (p) before
• BFA – (s) Burkina Faso (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BfArM – (i) Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte, German governmental institute for drugs and medical devices
• BFI – (a) British Film Institute
• BFR – (a) Biennial flight review
• BFR – (i) Brominated Flame Retardant
• BFSA – (i) Blue Force Situation Awareness
• BFT – (i) Blue Force Tracking
• BFF – (a) Best Friends Forever
• BFS – (s) Belfast International Airport (IATA airport code)

BG

• bg – (s) Bulgarian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• BG – (s) Bangladesh (FIPS 10-4 country code) – (i) Battle Group – Body Guard – (s) Brigadier General – (s) Bulgaria (ISO 3166 digram)
• BGA – (i) Ball Grid Array – Brandy and Ginger Ale (alcoholic beverage)
• BGD – (s) Bangladesh (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BGN – (i) U.S. Board on Geographic Names – (s) Bulgarian lev (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BGR – (s) Bulgaria (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BGS – (i) Bristol Grammar School – British Geographical Survey
• BGWG – (p) Battle Group Wargame (military simulation; "big wig")

BH

• bh – (s) Bihari languages (ISO 639-1 code)
• Bh – (s) Bohrium
• BH
  • (s) Bahrain (ISO 3166 digram)
  • Belize (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• BHD – (s) Bahraini dinar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BHR – (s) Bahrain (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BHS
  • (i) British Home Stores
  • (s) The Bahamas (ISO 3166 trigram)

BI

• bi – (s) Bislami language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Bi – (s) Bismuth
• BI – (s) Burundi (ISO 3166 digram)
• BIAP – (a) Baghdad International Airport – (p) Biafran pound
• BICS – (i/a) Battlefield Information and Communication System
• BID – (i) bis in die (Latin, "twice a day")
• BIDST – (i) British Institute of Dental and Surgical Technologists
• BIF – (s) Burundian franc (ISO 4217 currency code)
• bih – (s) Bihari languages (ISO 639-2 code)
• BIH – (s) Bosnia and Herzegovina (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BIOS – (a) Basic Input/Output System – British Institute of Organ Studies
• BIP – (a) Battlefield Interoperability Programme (ancestor of MIP) – Broadcast incremental power algorithm
• bis – (s) Bislami language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BISEPS – (a) Battlefield Identification System Environment Performance Simulation
• BIST – (a) Built-In Self-Test
• BIT – (a) Bilateral Investment Treaty – Built-In Test
• BITE – (a) Built-In Test Equipment

BJ

• BJ – (s) Benin (ISO 3166 digram) – (i) Blowjob (oral sex)
• BJJ – (i) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• BJP – (i) Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party)
• BJT – (i) Bipolar Junction Transistor

BK

• Bk – (s) Berkelium
• BK – (i) Burger King – (p) Bankrupt (most often seen as "gone BK") – (s) Bosnia and Herzegovina (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• BKN – (s) Broken Sky (METAR Code)

BL

• BL – (s) Bolivia (FIPS 10-4 country code) – (i) British Leyland
• BLCSE – (i) Battle Laboratory Constructive Simulation Environment
• BLDU – (s) Blowing Dust (METAR Code)
• BLEVE – (a) Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion ("blevy")
• BLOB – (p) Binary Large OBject
• BLR – (s) Belarus (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BLSA – (s) Blowing Sand (METAR Code)
• BLSN – (s) Blowing Snow (METAR Code)
• BLT – (i) Bacon Lettuce Tomato (sandwich)
• BLUFOR – (p) Blue Force(s) (military)
• BLUI – (a/i) Body Language User Interface ("blooie")
• BLZ – (s) Belize (ISO 3166 trigram)

BM

• bm – (s) Bambara language (ISO 639-1 code)
• BM – (i) Battle Management – (s) Bermuda (ISO 3166 digram) – Myanmar (FIPS 10-4 country code; from Burma)
• BMA – (i) British Medical Association
• BMCC – (i) Borough of Manhattan Community College
• BMD – (i) Ballistic Missile Defence – (s) Bermudian dollar (ISO 4217 currency code) – (i) Boyevaya Mashina Desanta (Russian Боевая Машина Десанта, "Combat Vehicle Airborne") † ^[2] – British Military Doctrine
• BMDG – (i) British Military Doctrine Group
• BMDO – (i) (U.S.) Ballistic Missile Defense Organization ("bim-do")
• BME – (p) Biomedical Engineering – (i) Black and Minority Ethnic group – Body Modification E-zine
• BMEWS – (a/i) Ballistic Missile Early Warning System ("bee-mews")
• BMI – (i) Body Mass Index – Broadcast Music Incorporated
• BMG – (i) Bertelsmann Music Group
• BML – (i) Battle Management Language
• BMNT – (i) Begin Morning Nautical Twilight
• BMP – (i) Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoti (Russian Боевая Машина Пехоты, "Combat Vehicle for the Infantry") † ^[2]
• BMR – (i) Basal metabolic rate – Bronirovannaya Mashina Razminirovaniya (Russian Бронированная Машина Разминирования, "Armoured Vehicle for Mine-Clearing") † ^[2]
• BMU – (s) Bermuda (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BMW – (i) Bayerische Motoren Werke (German, "Bavarian Motor Works")
• BMX – (i) Bicycle/Bike Moto (r) Cross

BN

• bn – (s) Bengali language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Bn – (s) Battalion
• BN – (s) Brunei (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
• BND – (s) Brunei dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BnF – (i) Bibliothèque nationale de France (French, "National Library of France")
• BNF
  • (i) Backus-Naur Form (computing)
  • British National Formulary
• BNICE – (a) Biological, Nuclear, Incendiary, Chemical, and Explosive Agents
• BNP
  • (i) British National Party
  • Banque Nationale de Paris, a predecessor to today's BNP Paribas
• BNS – (i) Bank of Nova Scotia
• BNSF – (i) Burlington Northern Santa Fe

BO

• bo – (s) Tibetan language (ISO 639-1 code)
• BO
  • (i) Back Orifice
  • (s) Belarus (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i) Biarritz Olympique (French rugby union club)
  • (s) Bolivia (ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Body odor
• BO2k – (i) Back Orifice 2000
• BOAC – (i) British Overseas Airways Corporation (predecessor of British Airways)
• BOAT – (p) Byway Open to All Traffic (pronounced as two syllables, "Bo-At")
• BOB – (s) boliviano (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BOBFOC – (a) Body Off Baywatch, Face Off Crimewatch (description)
• BOBFOK – (a) Body of Barbie, face of Ken (description)
• BOC
  • (i) British Orthodontic Society
  • British Oxygen Company
• BÖC – (i) Blue Öyster Cult
• bod – (s) Tibetan language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BOD – (i) Biochemical Oxygen Demand
• BODMAS – (a) Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction
• BOFH – (i) Bastard Operator From Hell
• BOGA – (a) Bend Over and Grab Ankles
• BOGOF – (a) Buy One, Get One Free
• BOGs - (a) Bunch of Guys
• BOGSAT – (a) Bunch Of Guys Sitting Around a Table
• BOHICA – (a) Bend Over Here It Comes Again
• BOI
  • (i) Balance Of Investment
  • Basis Of Issue
• BOL – (s) Bolivia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BOM
  • (a) Base Object Model
  • Bill Of Materials
  • Block of the Month quilting term
• BOP – (i) Balance of Payments
• BOPB – (i) Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (the complete name of the rugby club)
• BOPD – (i) Barrel of Oil Per Day
• BOQ
  • (i) Bill Of Quotations
  • Bachelor Officers' Quarters
  • Bank Of Queensland
• bos – (s) Bosnian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BOS – (i) Battlefield Operating System
• BOT
  • (i) Balance of Trade
  • (s) Botswana (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
  • (i) Build Operate Transfer
  • (i) Bank of Thailand

BP

• BP
  • (i) Battle Position
  • British Petroleum (today, BP does not officially stand for anything)
  • (s) Solomon Islands (FIPS 10-4 country code; from British Protectorate of the Solomon Islands)
• Bp – (i) Bishop
• BPD – (i) Bipolar Personality Disorder
• BPM – (i) Beats Per Minute
• BPMo – (i) Business Process Mobility
• BPV
  • (i) Battlefield Planning Visualization
  • Bovine papillomavirus
• BOM Business opportunity meeting

BQ

• BQ
  • (s) British Antarctic Territory (former ISO 3166 digram; merged with AQ in 1979)
  • Caribbean Netherlands (current ISO 3166 digram; based on the entity's alternate name of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba)
  • Navassa Island (FIPS 10-4 territory code)

BR

• br – (s) Breton language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Br – (s) Bromine
• BR
  • (s) Brazil (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i) British Rail
  • Break Ranks (marching band term)
• BRA – (s) Brazil (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BRASS – Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze (Acronym for using a rifle)
• BRB
  • (s) Barbados (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • (i) "Be Right Back" (Internet chat abbreviation)
• BRDM – (i) Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dosornaya Mashina (Russian Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, "Combat Reconnaissance Patrol Vehicle") † ^[2]
• bre – (s) Breton language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BRFSS – (p) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ("burf-us", a CDC health survey covering the U.S. and its territories)
• BRI – (i) Bathroom Readers Institute (publishers of series of "Uncle John's Bathroom Readers" books)
• BRIC – (a) Brazil, Russia, India and China
• BRICS – (a) Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
• BRIMS – (a) Behavior Representation In Modeling and Simulation (conference)
• BRL – (s) Brazilian real (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BRM – (i) Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Mashina (Russian Боевая Разведывательная Машина, "Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle") † ^[2]
• BRN
  • (s) Bahrain (IOC trigram, but not FIFA or ISO 3166)
  • (s) Brunei (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BRSB – (i) Battlefield Reasoning System Brianna
• BRU – (s) Brunei (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)

BS

• bs – (s) Bosnian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• BS
  • (s) The Bahamas (ISO 3166 digram)
  • Bassas da India (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • Bachelor of Science degree
  • British subject
  • Bullshit
• BSA
  • (i) Birmingham Small Arms (motorcycles company)
  • Boy Scouts of America
  • Brigade Support Area
• BSatCoP - Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins
• BSD
  • (s) Bahamian dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • (i) Berkeley Software Distribution (distinct from BSoD)
• BSE - (i) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease
• BSE – (i) Buku Sekolah Elektronik (screw thread),ref>http://www.tbkarunia.com</ref>
• BSF – (i) British Standard Fine (screw thread)
• BSL – (i) British Sign Language
• BSMB – (i) British Society for Matrix Biology
• BSN
  • (i) Bachelor of Science in Nursing
  • Baloncesto Superior Nacional (Spanish, "National Superior Basketball"; top Puerto Rican league)
  • Bank Simpanan Nasional (Malay, "National Savings Bank"; government-owned Malaysian bank)
• BSoD – (i) Blue Screen of Death (distinct from BSD)
• BSP
  • (i) Between-Show Promotion
  • Binary Space Partitioning
  • Board Support Package
  • British Standard Pipe (screw thread)
  • (p) Business-sponsored
  • Bone sialoprotein
• BST
  • (i) Binary Search Tree
  • Blended Sales Tax
  • (p) Bovine somatotropin
  • (i) British Summer Time
• BSW – (i) British Standard Whitworth (screw thread)
• BSX – (i) Bendigo Stock Exchange

BT

• Bt
  • (i) Baronet
  • Bacillus thuringiensis
• BT
  • (i) Bathythermograph
  • (s) Bhutan (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) BitTorrent
  • British Telecom, the former name of the company now known as BT Group
• BTDT – (i) Been There, Done That
• Bti – (i) Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis
• BTID – (i) Battlefield Target Identification Device
• BTIS – (i) Battlefield Target Identification System
• BTN
  • (s) Bhutan (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • Bhutanese ngultrum (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BTO – (i) Built To Order
• BTP – (i) British Transport Police
• BTR – (i) Bronetransporter (БТР = Бронетранспортер "(Heavy) Armoured (Personnel) Transporter") † ^[2]
• BTU – (i) British Thermal Unit
• BTW – (s) By The Way

BU

• BU – (s) Bulgaria (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Burma (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete since 1989)
• BUAV – (i) British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
• BUG-E – (a) Battlefield Universal Gateway Equipment ("buggy")
• bul – (s) Bulgarian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• BUL – (s) Bulgaria (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
• BUNO or BuNo – (p) Bureau Number (aircraft serial number)
• BUR – (s) Burma (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete since 1989)

BV

• BV – (i) Background Vocals – Battlefield Visualization – (s) Bouvet Island (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• BVD – (i) Bradley, Voorhees & Day (underwear manufacturer)
• BVR – (i) Beyond Visual Range
• BVT – (s) Bouvet Island (ISO 3166 trigram)

BW

• B&W – (i) Babcock & Wilcox – Black and White – Bowers & Wilkins
• BW – (s) Botswana (ISO 3166 digram)
• BWA – (s) Botswana (ISO 3166 trigram)
• BWARS – (a) Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society
• BWC – (p) Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
• BWP – (s) Botswanian pula (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BWR – (i) Boiling-Water Reactor

BX

• BX – (p) Base eXchange – (s) Brunei (FIPS 10-4 country code)

BY

• BY – (s) Burundi (FIPS 10-4 country code) – Belarus (ISO 3166 digram)
• BYOB – (i) (a)(multitipe meanings)
• BYOC – (i) Bring Your Own Computer (play on BYOB)
• BYOF – (i) Bring Your Own Flask
• BYR – (s) Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BYS – (s) Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete since 1992)
• BYU – (i) Brigham Young University

BZ

• BZ – (s) Belize (ISO 3166 digram)
• BZD – (s) Belize dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• BZP – (p) Benzylpiperazine

References

List of acronyms and initialisms A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z