Abbreviations¹, or short forms of words and phrases, are quite common in English. They are particularly common in electronic communication such as emails, texting, messaging on social media, and so on. One of the reasons written abbreviations are so common is because they are quicker to type than full words. So they save time and we all like to save time, right? Knowing common English abbreviations is important for understanding, of course, but learning to use them yourself is also a great way to add new vocabulary to your repertoire². Just keep in mind that abbreviations are definitely informal English and best used with friends and family, but not in formal school or business writing.

缩写（或单词和词组的缩短形式）在英文中是非常常见的。尤其是在一些电子交流方式的社交媒体上，如邮件，短信，留言等等。书面缩写存在的其中一条重要原因就是它跟全拼整个单词比起来更便捷。因此，它为我们节省了时间，谁不喜欢节省时间呢？当然，了解一些常用的英文缩写是非常有助于理解的，但是学会运用缩略语更是给你的词汇量增加动力。你只要记住，缩略语是非正式用语，最好用于朋友和家人之间，而不是正规的学校或商务写作中。

Note: Abbreviations traditionally are written in all capital letters in English, like acronyms³, but when they are used in texting, chat rooms, or on social media they are more commonly written in all lowercase letters. Using either all capital letters, or all lower case letters, is fine.

注：英文缩略语通常都是大写字母组成，就像首字母缩略词一样，但是当用于发短信，聊天室或社交媒体上时他们往往是用小写字母的。总之，用大写或小写都可以了。

AMA – ask me anything

随便问。

BRB – be right back

马上回来。

BTW – by the way

顺便问一下。

FYI – for your information

仅供参考。

GG – good game

认输退出。

ICYMI – in case you missed it

万一你错过了。

IDC – I don’t care

无所谓。

IDK – I don’t know

不知道。

IKR – I know right? (This is an emphatic⁴ expression of agreement.)

同意，中枪。

ILY – I love you

我爱你！

IMO – in my opinion

我认为。

JK – just kidding

开个玩笑。

LOL – laugh out loud

大声笑。

LMAO – Laugh my ass⁵ off

笑死我了！

OMG – oh my god

哦，我的天！

PPL – people

人们。

TGIF – thank God it’s Friday

感谢老天，总算到星期五了！

THX – thanks

谢谢！

TBH – to be honest

老实说。

WTF – what the f*ck (This is an emphatic expression of surprise or anger.)

这TMD怎么回事！

YOLO – you only live once

你只活一次，想做什么就做什么吧。