List of acronyms: F

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

For the purposes of this list:

• acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as if it were a word, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome, pronounced to rhyme with cars
• initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc, pronounced cee dee
• pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters mean that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).

(a) = acronym, e.g.: SARS – (a) Severe acute respiratory syndrome

(i) = initialism, e.g.: CD – (i) Compact disc

(p) = pseudo-blend, e.g.: 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)

• f – (s) Femto
• F – (s) Farad – Fluorine

FA

• fa – (s) Persian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• FA - Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous
• fA – (s) Femtoampere
• FA – (i) Field Artillery – Financial Aid – Football Association (England)
• FAA – (i) U.S. Federal Aviation Administration – Financial Aid Administrator – Fleet Air Arm – Functional Area Analysis
• FAAD – (a) Forward Area Air Defence
• FAADEZ – (i) Forward Area Air Defence Engagement Zone
• FAAN – (i) Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology
• FAAFP - (i)Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians
• FAAN – (i) Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
• FAAQ – (a/i) Frequently Asked and Anticipated Questions (cf. FAQ)
• FAASV – (i) Field Artillery Ammunition Supply Vehicle
• FAB – (i) Feline Advisory Bureau (UK feline charity)
• FAC – (i) Forward Air Controller – Front of Allies for Change – Frontal Affinity Chromatography – Full Aperture Calibrator
• FACA – (a) (US) Federal Advisory Committee Act
• FACH – (a) Fuerza Aérea de Chile
• FACN - (i) Fellow of the American College of Nutrition
• FACP - (i) Fellow of the American College of Physicians
• FACS – (i) Fellow of the American College of Surgeons – (a) Formal Aspects of Computing Science – Fluorescent-activated cell sorting
• FACTS – (a) Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System
• FAD – (i) Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide – Fuck A Duck – (a) Funding Authorization Document
• M18 FADAC – (p) Field Artillery Data Computer
• FAH – (i) Federation of American Hospitals – Fine Arts and Humanities – Foreign Affairs Handbook
• FAI – (i) Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (French, "International Aeronautics Federation") – Football Association of Ireland
• FAM – (i) Foreign Affairs Manual
• fao – (s) Faroese language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FAO – (i) Food and Agriculture Organization
• FAPA – Fellow of the American Psychological Association
• FAPHA – Fellow of the American Public Health Association
• FAQ – (a/i) Frequently Asked Questions (sometimes pronounced "fak")
• FARC – (a) Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Spanish, "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia")
• FARDC - (a) "Military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• FARP – (a) Forward Arming and Refuelling Point / Forward Area Rearm/refuel Point
• fas – (s) Persian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FAS – (i) Federation of American Scientists – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
• FASCAM – (p) Family of Scatterable Mines^[1]
• FASD – (i) Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
• FASEB – (a/i) Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
• FAT – (a) Field Artillery Tractor – File Allocation Table
• FAVS – (a) Future Armoured Vehicle System
• FAW – (i) Football Association of Wales

FB

• FB – Facebook, An on-line social network
• FBCB2 or FBCB² – (p) Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below
• FBCS – (i) Fellow of the British Computer Society
• FBI – (i) Federal Bureau of Investigation
• FBIS – (i) Foreign Broadcast Information Service
• FBIDST – (i) Fellow of the British Institute of Dental and Surgical Technologists
• FBM – (s) Board foot
• FBR
  • (i) Fast Breeder Reactor
  • Foundation for Biomedical Research
  • Friedman, Billings, Ramsey (now known as Arlington Asset Investment)
• FBS
  • Federal Bureau of Statistics (Pakistan)
  • Fetal bovine serum
  • Football Bowl Subdivision (U.S. college football)
  • Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation

FC

• fC – (s) Femtocoulomb
• FC
  • (i) Fire Control
  • Football Club
  • (s) Funnel Cloud (METAR Code)
• FCA
  • (i) Fellowship of Christian Athletes
  • Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
  • Fraction of Combat Active forces
• FCC – (i) U.S. Federal Communications Commission
• FCE – (i) First Certificate in English
• FCF – (i) Financial Free Cash Flow
• FCLA – Fraud Claims Law Associate
• FCM
  • (i) Federation of Canadian Municipalities
  • Fogarty's Cove Music
• FCO – (i) UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• FCS
  • (i) Football Championship Subdivision (U.S. college football)
  • Future Combat System
• FCW – (i) Florida Championship Wrestling
• FCZ – (i) Forward Combat Zone

FD

• FD – (i) Falun Dafa
• FDA – (i) Food and Drug Administration (U.S.)
• FDC – (i) Federal Detention Center (U.S.) – Fire Direction Centre
• FDDI – (i) Fibre Distributed Data Interface
• FDBK – (I) Feedback
• FDR – (i) Flight Data Recorder – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

FE

• Fe – (s) Iron (Latin Ferrum)
• FE – (i) Fully Exposed (armoured vehicle target, as opposed to Hull-Down)
• FEAR – (a) First Encounter Assault Recon – False Evidence Appears Real
• FEAST – (a/i) Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology Cooperation
• FEATS – (a) Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies link title
• FEB
  • (i) Federación Española de Baloncesto (Spanish, "Spanish Basketball Federation")
  • Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (Dutch, "Federation Honorary Division (of) Basketball"), the former name of the basketball competition now known in Dutch by the English-language Dutch Basketball League
  • Força Expedicionária Brasileira (Portuguese, "Brazilian Expeditionary Force")
• FEBA – (a) Forward Edge of the Battle Area
• fec. – (p) fecit (Latin, "he made it")
• FED – (a/i) Field emission display
• FEDEP – (p) Federation Development Process (Simulation)
• FEF – (i) Frontal Eye Field (neurophysiology)
• FEI – (i) Fédération équestre internationale (French, "International Federation for Equestrian Sports")
• FEMA
  • (a/i) Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association
  • (a/i) U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • Fire Equipment Manufacturers' Association
• FEMEXFUT – (p) Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (Spanish, "Mexican Association Football Federation")
• FENAFUTH – (p) Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras (Spanish, "National Autonomous Football Federation of Honduras")
• FENS – (a/i) Federation of European Neuroscience Societies
• FEP – (i) Firepower Enhancement Program – Fleet satellite (FLTSAT) Extremely high frequency (EHF) Package
• FEPAFUT – (p) Federación Panameña de Fútbol (Spanish, "Panamanian Football Federation")
• FES – (i) Flywheel Energy Storage
• FEST – (a) Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre link title
• FET – (a) Field-effect transistor
• FEZ – (a/i) Fighter Engagement Zone

FF

• ff – (s) Fula language (ISO 639-1 code)
• fF – (s) Femtofarad
• FF
  • (i) Final Fantasy
  • (p) Firefox (Web browser)
• FFA
  • (i) Football Federation Australia
  • Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency
  • Free-Fire Area
  • Fusiform Face Area
  • Future Farmers of America (today the National FFA Organization)
• FFB – (i) Frum From Birth (referring to an observant Jew born into a religiously observant family)
• FFC – (i) Free For Chat
• FFE – (i) Fukuoka Futures Exchange
• FFF – (i) Fédération française de football (French, "French Football Federation")
• FFG – (s) Guided Missile Frigate (hull classification symbol)
• FFOV – (i) Forward Field Of View
• FFR – (i) Fédération française de rugby (French, "French Rugby (Union) Federation")
• FFS – (i) For Fuck's Sake
• FFT
  • (i) Fast Fourier Transform
  • Final Fantasy Tactics

FG

• FG – (i) Falun Gong
• fg – (s) Femtogram
• FG – (s) Fog (METAR Code) – French Guiana (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• FGR – (a) Flickr Group Roulette

FH

• fH – (s) Femtohenry
• FHFIF – (i) Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
• FHI – (i) Family Health International, Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd.

FI

• fi – (s) Finnish language (ISO 639-1 code)
• FI – (s) Finland (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
• FIA – (a) Fédération internationale de l'automobile (French "International Automobile Federation")
• FIAT – (a) Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian "Italian Car Factory of Turin")
• FIB – (a) Fucking Illinois Bastard (Wisconsin slang, variants exist)
• FIBA – originally (a) Fédération internationale de basket-ball amateur (French, "International Amateur Basketball Federation"); since 1989, (p) Fédération internationale de basket-ball
• FIBUA – (i/a) Fighting In Built-Up Areas
• FIC – (i) Fellowship for Intentional Community
• FID – (i) Foreign Internal Defence
• FIDÉ – (a) Fédération internationale des échecs (French, "World Chess Federation")
• FIE – (i) Fly-In Echelon
• FIFA – (a) Fédération internationale de football association (French, "International Association Football Federation")
• FIFe – (a) Fédération internationale féline (French, "International Feline Federation")
• FIFO – (a) First In, First Out
• FIFRA – (a) Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
• FIG
  • (i) Fédération internationale des géomètres (French, "International Federation of Surveyors")
  • Fédération internationale de gymnastique (French, "International Federation of Gymnastics")
  • Feminist Improvising Group (music ensemble)
• FIGJAM – (a) Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me
• fij – (s) Fijian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FILA – (a) Fédération internationale des luttes associées (French, "International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles"), former name of the sport governing body now known as United World Wrestling
• FILO – (a) First In, Last Out (see also LIFO)
• FIMPT – (i) Fellow of the Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists
• fin – (s) Finnish language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FIN – (s) Finland (ISO 3166 trigram)
• FINA – (p/a) Fédération internationale de natation (French, "International Swimming Federation")
• FIPS – (a) Federal Information Processing Standard
• FIR
  • (i) Final Inspection Report
  • Federazione Italiana Rugby (Italian, "Italian Rugby (Union) Federation")
• FIRES - Fever Induced Refractory Epilepsy Syndrome or Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome
• FIS – (a/i) Fédération internationale de ski (French "International Ski Federation")
• FISA – (a) Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron (French, "International Federation of Rowing Associations")
• FISH – (a) Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridisation
• FiST – (p) Fire Support Team
• FITS – (a) Flexible Image Transport System
• FIU – (i) Florida International University

FJ

• fj – (s) Fijian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• fJ – (s) Femtojoule
• FJ – (s) Fiji (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
• FJD – (s) Fiji dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• FJI – (s) Fiji (ISO 3166 trigram)
• FJN – (a) Financial Job Network

FK

• fK – (s) Femtokelvin
• FK – (s) Falkland Islands (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• f.k.a. or F/K/A – (i) Formerly Known As
• FKP – (s) Falkland Islands pound (ISO 4217 currency code)
• FKSM – (i) Fort Knox Supplemental Manual
• FKT – (i) Fastest Known Time

FL

• fl – (p) floruit (Latin, "living") (genealogy)
• fL – (s) Femtolitre
• FL – (s) Florida (postal symbol)
• FLA – (p) Florida – (i) Front Line Assembly – Future Large Aircraft
• FLAB – (p) Four-letter abbreviation
• FLAC – (a/i) Free Lossless Audio Codec
• FLAC – (a/i) Free Legal Advice Centres
• FLAK – (p) FLugAbwehrKanone (German for "Anti-Aircraft Guns")
• FLB – (i) Forward Logistics Base
• FLET – (a/i) Forward Line of Enemy Troops
• FLG – (p) Falun Gong
• FLIP – (p) Flight Information Publication
• FLIR – (i) Forward Looking InfraRed (sensor)
• FLK – (s) Falkland Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • Also Funny-Looking Kid, a medical initialism for a young child with a mostly normal but somewhat unusual ("funny") appearance that raises the suspicion index for congenital disorder. Used only before a medical diagnosis has determined the cause of the unusual appearance.
• FLOT – (a/i) Forward Line of Own Troops
• FLSA – (i) Fair Labor Standards Act
• FLQ – (i) Front de libération du Québec (French for "Québec Liberation Front")
• FLQ – (a) Free Legal Questions
• FLTSAT – (p) Fleet Satellite
• FLTSATCOM – (p) Fleet Satellite Communication System
• FLUBOS – (a) Fat, Lazy, Useless, Bag Of Shit

FM

• FM – (s) Factory Mutual http://fmglobal.com
• fm – (s) Femtometre
• Fm – (s) Fermium
• FM
  • (i) Federal Magistrate (Australian post-nominal)
  • (s) Federated States of Micronesia (postal symbol; ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • (i) Field Manual
  • Flight Manager
  • Frequency Modulation (electronics)
• FMC
  • (i) Federal Magistrates' Court (an Australian federal court, formerly FMS)
  • Food Machinery Corporation (original name of the company now known as FMC Corporation)
• FMCA – (i) Federal Magistrates' Court of Australia (used for citing decisions of the FMC other than family law decisions)
• FMCAfam – (i) Federal Magistrates' Court of Australia: family (used for citing family law decisions of the FMC)
• FME – (i) Formal Methods Europe
• FMECA – (i) Failure Modes and Effect Criticality Analysis
• FMJD – (i) Fédération Mondiale du Jeu de Dames^[2]
• FMLA – (i) Family Medical Leave Act
• Fmr – Former (As in "Fmr. president")
• fMRI – (i) Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• FMS
  • (i) Federal Magistrates Service (an Australian federal court, now FMC)
  • (i) Flight Management System
  • Foreign Military Sales
• FMSF – (i) False Memory Syndrome Foundation
• FMTV – (i) Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles
• FMCG – (i) (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)

FN

• fN – (s) Femtonewton
• FNA – (i) Functional Needs Analysis

FO

• fo – (s) Faroese language (ISO 639-1 code)
• FO – (s) Faroe Islands (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 territory code) – (i) Force Operations (military) – Forward Observer – Frame Optional (military symbology)
• FOAD – (a) Fuck Off And Die
• FOAF – (a) Friend Of A friend
• FoB – (i) Free On Board (shipping)
• FOB – (i/a) Forward Operating Base
• FOC – (i) Full Operational Capability – First of Class
• FoE – (p) Friends of the Earth
• FOGC – (i) Federal Oil and Gas Council
• FOH – (a) Front Of House
• FOIA – (a) Freedom of Information Act
• FOM – (a) Federation Object Model
• FONSI – (a) Finding of No Significant Impact
• FOO – (a) Forward Observation Officer
• FOR – (i) Field Of Regard – Frame Of Reference
• Fortran – (p) The IBM Mathematical FORmula TRANslating System (programming language)
• FOS – (i) Florida Ornithological Society – Full Operational Status
• FoS – (i) Family of Systems
• FOSE – (p) Fallout 3 Script Extender
• FOSE – (a) Federal Office Systems Expo
• FOT – (i) Free on truck
• FOTA – (i) Fellow of the Orthodontic Technicians Association
• FOTC – Flight of the Conchords
• FOUO – (i) For Official Use Only
• FOV – (i) Field Of View

FP

• FP – (s) French Polynesia (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• FPF
  • (i) Federação Portuguesa de Futebol ("Portuguese Football Federation" in that language)
  • Final Protective Fire
• fps – (s) frames per second (motion pictures, television, computer graphics)
• FPS
  • (i) Fire Prevention System
  • First Person Shooter (computer/video games)
• FOOP – (s) Friends Of Organ Pipes (Volunteer group)

FQ

• FQ – (s) Baker Island (FIPS 10-4 territory code) – French Southern and Antarctic Territories (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1979)
• FQDN – (i) Fully Qualified Domain Name

FR

• fr – (s) French language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Fr – (s) Francium
• FR – (s) France (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
• fra – (s) French language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FRA
  • (i) Federal Railroad Administration
  • (s) France (ISO 3166 trigram)
• FRAGO – (p) Fragmentary Order (military)
• FRAND – (a) Fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (concept in standards-setting and intellectual property law)
• FRCP
  • (i) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
• FRICBM – (i) Full Range ICBM
• frr – (s) North Frisian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FRR
  • (s) Falls Road Railroad (reporting mark)
  • (i) Federaţia Română de Radioamatorism (Romanian, "Romanian Amateur Radio Federation")
  • (i) Fix, Rebuild, Replace
  • Federaţia Română de Rugby (Romanian, "Romanian Rugby (Union) Federation")
• FRO – (s) Faroe Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
• FRS
  • (i) Fellow of the Royal Society
  • U.S. Federal Reserve System
• FRSA – (i) Fellow of the Royal Society of Art
• fry – (s) West Frisian language (ISO 639-2 code)
• FRY – (i) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

FS

• fs – (s) Femtosecond
• fS – (s) Femtosiemens
• FS
  • (i) Fire Support (military)
  • (s) French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• FSA
  • (i) Fire Support Area
  • UK Food Standards Agency
  • Functional Solution Analysis
• FSB
  • (i) Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoi Federatsii (Федера́льная слу́жба безопа́сности Росси́йской Федера́ции, Russian "Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation", succeeded the FSK in 1995)
  • Forward Support Battalion
• FSC
  • (i) Federal Supply Classification
  • (a) Forest Stewardship Council (ecological pressure group
• FSCL – (i) Fire Support Co-ordination Line
• FSE – (i) Fire Support Element
• F&SF – (i) (The Magazine of) Fantasy & Science Fiction
• FSF – (i) Free Software Foundation
• FSH – (i) Follicle Stimulating Hormone
• FSI – (i) Fuel Stratified Injection
• FSK – (i) Federal'naya Sluzhba Kontrrazvedki (Федера́льная Слу́жба Контрразве́дки, Russian "Federal Counterintelligence Service", succeeded the KGB in 1991)
• FSM
  • (s) Federated States of Micronesia (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • (i) Flying Spaghetti Monster (satirical religion)
• FSO
  • (i) Fire Support Officer
  • Flotilla Staff Officer
  • Foreign Service Officer
• FSS – (i) Fire Support Station
• FSSP – (i) Families of Structurally Similar Proteins
• FST
  • (i) Finance Support Team
  • Finlands Svenska Television (Finland's Swedish-language television)
  • Future Soviet Tank (Cold War era)
• FSTC – (i) Foreign Science Technology Center (now NGIC)
• FSV
  • (i) Fire Support Vehicle
  • Fisheries Survey Vessel
  • Flexible Sender Validation
  • Fort St. Vrain
  • Fußball und Sportverein (German "Football and Sport Association", as in FSV Mainz)

FT

• fT – (s) Femtotesla
• FTC – (i) Federal Trade Commission
• FTE – (i) Full Time Equivalent
• FTL – (i) Faster Than Light
• FTP – (i) File Transfer Protocol
• FTSE – (a/i) Financial Times Stock Exchange ("footsie")
• FTW – (i) For The Win (a commonly used phrase used online to indicate success) F@#K The World, Forever Together Where ever (gang slogan)
• FTS - (i) Flight Termination System used during some rocket launches
• FTS – (i) Fuck That Shit

FU

• FU – (s) Smoke (METAR Code)
• FUBAR – (a) Fucked/Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair
• f/u/b/o – (i) For the use and benefit of (found in legal documents)
• FUCK – (a) For, Unlawful, Carnal, Knowledge (Van Halen album title)
• FUD – (a) Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (marketing strategy)
• FUGAZI (acronym) – (a) British/American Army slang, then Video Gamer FPS slang for Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In.
• ful – (s) Fula language (ISO 639-2 code)

FV

• fV – (s) Femtovolt

FW

• fW – (s) Femtowatt
• FW – (s) Forward
• F/W – (i) Fixed Wing
• FWC – (i) Football World Cup
• FWF – (i) Fixed Word Format
• FWI – (i) French West Indies
• FWIW – (i) For What It's Worth
• FWS – (i) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• FWT – (i) Fresh Water Tank

FX

• FX – (a) Firefox – Fox Extended – (s) Metropolitan France (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1997) – Special effect
• FXX – (s) Metropolitan France (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1997)

FY

• fy – (s) West Frisian language (ISO 639-1 code)
• FY – (i) Fiscal Year – (s) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (NATO country code)
• FYA – (i) For Your Agenda
• FYDP – (i) Five-Year Defense Plan (U.S.)
• FYI – (i) For Your Information
• FYI&A – (i) For Your Information and Action
• FYROM – (a) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

FZ

• FZDZ – (s) Freezing Drizzle (METAR Code)
• FZFG – (s) Freezing Fog (METAR Code)
• FZRA – (s) Freezing Rain (METAR Code)

References