<acronym>

The <acronym> tag was used to define an acronym, a special type of abbreviation whose letters can be pronounced as a word (for example: "NASA" for "National Aeronautics and Space Administration").

This tag also allowed providing a detailed explanation using the title attribute.

Important: The <acronym> tag is deprecated in HTML5. Instead, we recommend using the <abbr> tag, which offers similar functionality and is better supported. 😉

Structure and Syntax of the <acronym> Tag

The general syntax for the <acronym> tag is as follows:

<acronym title="Complete explanation of the acronym">Acronym</acronym>

Here’s a small example with our abbreviation "NASA":

<p>The space agency <acronym title="National Aeronautics and Space Administration">NASA</acronym> is famous worldwide.</p>

Some important points:

• The title attribute specifies the full meaning of the acronym. Just like for the title attribute of the <a> tag;
• Acronyms usually display small dots below the abbreviation to indicate to the user that they can hover over it.

Try it yourself! 😬

Browser Compatibility

The <acronym> tag is:

• Deprecated in HTML5: It is no longer recognized as a standard tag. However, it can still often be interpreted.
• Supported in older browsers: It still works in older versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox, but it should no longer be used in new projects.