(Main list of acronyms)
__NOTOC__ p – (s) pico P – (s) Peta – Phosphorus
P0–9 P2P – (i) Peer-to-peer (networking) P3I or P3I – (i) PrePlanned Product Improvement
PA pa – (s) Punjabi language (ISO 639-1 code) pA – (s) picoampere Pa (s) pascal Protactinium PA (a/i) Pamela Anderson (s) Panama (ISO 3166 digram) Paraguay (FIPS 10-4 country code) (i) Partial Agonist (s) Pennsylvania (postal symbol) petampere (i) PolyAmide (Nylon) Prince Albert piercing Public Address (vocal amplification system) Public Affairs PA 6 – (s) Nylon 6 (PolyAmide) (similarly for PA 11, 12, 46, 66, 610) PAA – (i) Position Area for Artillery PAB – (s) Panamanian balboa (ISO 4217 currency code) PABX – (p) Private Automated Branch eXchange (company phone system) PAC (i) Pan Africanist Congress (a) Partial Solar Calibrator Patriot Advanced Capabilities Political action committee (a/i) Primary Auditory Cortex PACER – (a) Public Access to Court Electronic Records (U.S. federal courts) PACOM – (p) (U.S.) Pacific Command PADD (a) Personal Access Display Device (as seen in the Star Trek franchise) Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts, used for data collection in the U.S. petroleum industry PADI – (a) Professional Association of Diving Instructors PAEK – (i) PolyArylEtherKetone PAFC – (i) Plymouth Argyle Football Club PAH – (i) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon PAHO – (i) Pan American Health Organization PAI (i) PolyAmide Imide Pre-Approval Inspection (pharma) PAK – (s) Pakistan (ISO 3166 trigram) Pakistan – (p) Punjab, Afghan states, Kashmir, sIndh, baluchiSTAN PAL (a) Phase Alternating Line (TV standard) (p) Philippine Airlines PAM – (a/i) Precision Attack Missile Pamida – (p) Patrick, Michael, and David, sons of the department store chain's co-founder Jim Witherspoon PAMELA (a) Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (a) Pedestrian Accessibility and Movement Environment Laboratory pan – (s) Punjabi language (ISO 639-2 code) PAN (s) Panama (ISO 3166 trigram) (a) Partai Amanat Nasional (Indonesian, "National Mandate Party") – Indonesian political party Partido Acción Nacional (Spanish, "National Action Party") – political parties in El Salvador, Mexico, and Nicaragua Partido de Avanzada Nacional (Spanish, "National Advancement Party") – Guatemalan political party Personal area network (i) PolyAcryloNitrile (a) Programa de Asistencia Nutricional (Spanish, "Nutritional Assistance Program") – U.S. federal program for nutritional needs of poor families in Puerto Rico PANS – (a) Pretty Advanced/Awesome Network Services (cf. POTS) Pan-STARRS – (p) Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System PAO (i) Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (Greek: Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, "Pan-Athenian Athletic Club") (a/i) Poly Alpha Olefin Public Affairs Officer PAOK – (i) Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstantinoupoliton (Greek Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolites") PAP (i) People's Action Party (Singapore) (a) Internet slang for Post a Picture PAPI – (a) Precision Approach Path Indicator (aviation) PAR – (s) Paraguay (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166) PARC – (a) Palo Alto Research Center PAROS – (a) Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (treaty) PARP – (i) (NATO Partnership for Peace) Planning And Review Process PARWIG – (a) Power Augmented Ram Wing In Ground (aeroplane wing shape) PAS – See entry PASA – (i) PolyAmide, Semi-Aromatic (Nylon) PASGT – (i) Personnel Armor System, Ground Troops PASR – (i) Personnel Accounting and Strength Reporting PatD - (s) Panic! at the Disco PATH – (a) Port Authority Trans-Hudson PAWS (a) Phased Array Warning System Progressive Animal Welfare Society PAYD – (a) Pay As You Drive PAYE – (a) Pay As You Earn
PB Pb – (s) Lead (Latin Plumbum) PB – (p) PolyButylene PBA (i) Philippine Basketball Association Professional Bowlers Association PBB – (p) PolyBrominated Biphenyl PBC (i) Push Button Connect, a WPS method (i) Playback Control, a feature on Video CD and Super Video CD PBCK – (i) Problem Between Chair and Keyboard (computer help desk in-joke) PBD – (p) PolyButaDiene PBDE – (i) PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ether PBI – (p) PolyBenzImidazole PBIS - Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports PBN – (p) PolyButylene Naphthalate PBOH – (i) Please Become Old History PBR (i) Pabst Blue Ribbon (beer brand) Professional Bull Riders PBS (i) Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (Australia) Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.) Public Broadcasting Services (Malta) PBRT - may stand for: Physically Based Raytracing, an open source software rendering system for physically correct image synthesis. PBT – (p) PolyButylene Terephthalate PBX – (p) Private Branch eXchange (company phone system)
PC pC – (s) picocoulomb PC (s) petacoulomb U.S. Pacific Islands Trust Territory (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1986) (i) Personal computer Player Character (roleplaying) Politically Correct / Political Correctness post cibum (Latin, "after meals") PCAS – (i) Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey PCB – see entry PCC (i) NATO Partnership Coordination Cell Posterior Cingulate Cortex Pre-Command Course Presidents Conference Committee PCCB – (i) Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake PCCIP – (i) President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection PCE – (p) PerChlorEthylene PCI (s) U.S. Pacific Islands Trust Territory (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1986) (i) Peripheral Component Interconnect (computer bus) PCIe – (i) Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (computer bus) PCL – (i) Passive Coherent Location PCMCIA – (i) Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (People Can't Memorise Computer-Industry Acronyms) PCN – (s) Pitcairn Islands (ISO 3166 trigram) PCP (p) phencyclidine Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (formerly Pneumocystis carinii) (i) Probabilistically Checkable Proof PCPI – Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (AMA) PCR – (i) Polymerase chain reaction PCSSD - (p) Pulaski County Special School District PCT (i) Pacific Crest Trail Patent Cooperation Treaty PCTE (i) Portable Common Tool Environment (i) Punjab College of Technical Education PCZ – (s) Panama Canal Zone (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1980)
PD Pd – (s) Palladium PD (i) per diem (Latin: (calculated) by the day) Point of Departure Police Department Postal District Potential Difference Principal Deputy Privatdozent Public domain PD – (i) Product Director—Example: CERDEC Product Director C4ISR and Network Modernization PDA (i) Personal Digital Assistant Predicted Drift Angle Public Display of Affection Push-Down Automaton PDD (i) Past Due Date Presidential Decision Directive PDF (i) Panama[nian] Defense Forces (abolished 1990) Portable Document Format Principal Direction of Fire PDG (i) President Director General Product Development Group PDL (i) Premier Development League, a former name of the U.S. minor soccer league now known as USL League Two Pure Dumb Luck (Texan punk band) PDN – (i) Pull-Down Network PDP (i) Programmable Data Processor Performance Development Plan PDQ (i) Pre-Defined Queries (Siebel packages) Pretty Damn Quick PDRY – (i) People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (obsolete since 1990) PDT – (i) Pacific Daylight [Saving] Time (UTC-7 hours) PDU (i) Police Dog Unit Power Distribution Unit Protocol Data Unit PDVSA – (a/i) Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (Spanish, "Venezuelan Petroleum Company")
PE PE – Professional Engineer PE – (s) Ice Pellets (old style METAR Code) – Peru (ISO 3166 and FIPS 10-4 country code digram) – (i) Physical Education – Premature Ejaculation – (s) Prince Edward Island (postal code) – Price to Earning ratio (used for equity shares) – Plant Extract PEBCAC – (a) Problem Exists Between Chair and Computer (IT help desk in-joke) PEBKAC – (a) Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair (ditto) PEEK – (i) PolyEtherEtherKetone PEET – (a) Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy PEGIDA – (a) Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes (German, "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West") PEI – (i) Prince Edward Island – PolyEtherImide PEK – (i) PolyEtherKetone PEMDAS - The order of operations in math (Parentheses, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction) PEN (s) Peruvian sol (ISO 4217 currency code) (i) Poets, Essayists and Novelists, the original meaning of the initialism of the organization now known as PEN International PolyEthylene Naphthalate PEO – (i) Παγκύπρια Εργατική Ομοσπονδία (Greek for "Pancyprian Federation of Labour") – Philanthropic Educational Organization – PolyEthylene Oxide – Professional Employer Organization – Professional Engineers Ontario PEPFAR – (a) President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief PER – (s) Peru (ISO 3166 trigram) perl – (a) usually lower case Practical Extraction and Report Language PERM - Program Electronic Review Management PES – (i) PolyEtherSulfone PEST – (a) UK Public Engagement with Science and Technology PET – (a/i) Personal Electronic Transactor – Pierre Elliott Trudeau – Positron Emission Tomography (as in PET scan) – PolyEthylene Terephthalate (plastic) – (a) Preliminary English Test PETA – (a/i) pentaerythritol triacrylate – People Eating Tasty Animals – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETE – (i) PolyEthyleneTErephthalate PETP – (i) PolyEthyleneTerePhthalate
PF pF – (s) picofarad PF (s) French Polynesia (ISO 3166 digram) petafarad (i) Phenol Formaldehyde (resin) Power forward, a player position in Australian rules football, basketball, and ice hockey PFD – (i) Permanent Fund Dividend = personal flotation device PFE – (i) Permanent Forest Estate PFLAG – (p) Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays ("pee-flag") PFIY – (a) Please Fix it Yourself ("pee-fiy") PFO – (i) Pissed, Fell Over (medical diagnosis in-joke) PfP – (i) Partnership for Peace PFW (i) Pro Football Weekly (magazine and website covering the National Football League) Purdue University Fort Wayne
PG pg – (s) picogram Pg – (s) petagram PG – (i) propylene glycol (s) Papua New Guinea (ISO 3166 digram) (i) Parental Guidance (movie rating) Point guard (basketball position) PG-13 (disambiguation) – (p) (movie rating) PGCE – (p) Postgraduate Certificate in Education PGD – (i) Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis PG&E – (i) Pacific Gas & Electric PGENI – (i) Pharmaco-Genetics for Every Nation Initiative PGH – (i) Pre-implantation Genetic Haplotyping PGK – (s) Papua New Guinea kina (ISO 4217 currency code) PGM – (i) Precision-Guided Munition PGP – (i) Pretty Good Privacy
PH pH (s) parts of hydrogen (acidity/alkalinity index) picohenry PH (i) Passive Homing (missile guidance system) (s) petahenry Philippines (ISO 3166 digram) (i) Probability of Hit Professional hunter (abbreviation used mostly in East and Southern Africa) Public Health Purple Heart (i) Pakatan Harapan (Malaysia) PHA (p) PolyHydroxyAlkanoate (i) Potentially hazardous asteroid Ph.D. – (p) Philosophiæ Doctor (Latin, "Doctor of Philosophy") PHEV – (i) Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle PHF (i) Paired helical filaments (aggregations of tau proteins in the human brain associated with tauopathy) Potentially Hazardous Food Premier Hockey Federation (defunct North American women's ice hockey league) PHL – (s) Philippines (ISO 3166 trigram) PHQ - Patient Health Questionnaire PHP (s) Philippine peso (ISO 4217 currency code) (i) PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (originally Personal Home Page (Tools))
PI pi – (s) Pāli language (ISO 639-1 code) Pi – (s) Pebi PI (i) PolyImide PolyIsoprene Private Investigator PIB – (i) PolyIsoButylene PIC – (i) Person In Charge PICNIC – (a) Problem In Chair Not In Computer PICS – (i) Private Investment Capital Subscription PID (i) Pelvic inflammatory disease