Hi everybody!
How did your day go? Hope great! Today I'm just publishing a blog on some interesting short forms which are familiar to all of us, though their origins are unknown to many...


We often write 'no' as the short form of 'number'. But many people don't know how the letter 'o' entered the short form.

The answer is simple. In fact the shortened word 'no' is made up of the first and last letters of the Latin word 'numero'. The meaning is, of course, 'number'. It can also be written as No., No, no. The plural is Nos/nos, and the symbol for the short form is #


Likewise, we often use the abbreviation (short form) 'NB' after completing a letter, article, notices, guidelines etc. to add an important piece of information or to give the reader a warning, a suggestion and so forth. Most of the users do understand that NB stands for 'Note well' or 'Please note'. Shouldn't it be 'PN' then?

No, fundamentally NB (N.B.) is the short form of the Latin sentence 'nota bene'. Nota means 'note' and bene means 'well' in Latin. It should be pronounced as nauta beni, nauta been or nauta benei.


What about 'e.g.'? Since the childhood most of the learners of English have been familiar with this short form, but only a few exactly know what the full form of 'e.g.'

Well, 'e.g.' too is a successful survivor of Latinism in English language. It represents the Latin sentence 'exempli gratia' which means 'for example'. The pronunciation of the Latin sentence is egzemplei greishia or eksemplee grateeya.

The widely accepted written forms are 'e.g.' and 'eg'. Never use 'Eg'. And do remember it should be read for example. Don't say 'eegee'
                                                                                                                                  
N.B. please consult a dictionary or a good English teacher for the exact pronunciation of the words we discussed today.

With regards
Jacob (Nova English Campus)
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