Text Abbreviations use the initial letters or shortened versions of certain words to compose an expression. They are meant to make text message communication faster and easier. While they were utilized only by a small demographic a decade ago, text message abbreviations are now everywhere around the world.

Text abbreviations started to become popular with the upsurge of texting as one of the most useful communication channels. By the time they were developing, SMS had already proved to be a fast and convenient communication channel. Thus, text abbreviations were only complementing the advantages of text messages.

As much as SMS is one of the best communication channels, it has always had one major drawback. Each text message is limited to only 160 characters at most, which, if exceeded, counts as two messages and is charged additionally. Text abbreviations solve this problem by cutting down some characters and giving room for more words.

The tendency of using shorter form of words, phrases or sentences was carried away from text messages to social media communication apps. Although those apps are free to use and have no character limit, text abbreviations still remain popular with them. They save time and make typing on small and inconvenient sensor keyboards more comfortable.

Aside from helping individuals, text abbreviations also help businesses in their SMS marketing campaigns. Every SMS costs money for businesses too, therefore, they can use abbreviations to save some money. Additionally, each SMS campaign requires a keyword for opt-in, opt-out, additional information and so on. Those keywords can also include abbreviations if they are relevant to the campaign.

Common Text Abbreviations

Even with the most in-depth research, one cannot find all text abbreviations in the world. They are countless and the number is growing every day. However, most of the time text abbreviations’ meanings are clear from the start. Below we’ve listed one of the most common text abbreviations with some contextual examples.

• Text abbreviation “smh”: “Smh” stands for “shaking my head” and is used to show disappointment, regret or anger. It is meant to replace the reaction of the head during those feelings.Example: “Did you see the game last night? I was shocked. I can’t believe the Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns. SMH.”
• Text abbreviation “lml”: According to Urban Dictionary, “lml” means “laughing mad loud”. It replicates a loud laughing reaction. It can be used to make fun of something, ironize a statement and so on.Example: “LML. You should’ve seen his face when he hit his head to the pole. It was hilarious.”
• Text abbreviation “tbh”: “Tbh” is the shortened version of “to be honest”. It is probably the most used one among all. The abbreviation simply means what it says.Example: “The class was super-boring today. TBH, I was about to fall asleep.”
• Text abbreviation “mhm”: There is no actual word or phrase for the text abbreviation “mhm”. It expresses giving consent or saying “yes”, usually by shaking one’s head.Example: “-Do you think you could tell me where to find the needed literature?”
  “-mhm, I think I could.”

Spanish Text Abbreviations

Text abbreviations have established themselves as a very handy linguistic tool around the world, spreading from English to other languages. Being one of the most popular languages, Spanish isn’t an exception as far as using shortened versions of phrases is concerned. Here are some of the most popular Spanish text abbreviations.

List of Text Abbreviations in English

As mentioned above, the list of English abbreviations increases day by day. Therefore, it is impossible to have a list of all text abbreviations in a single table. However, we have compiled a list of the most used text abbreviations in the following table.