<p>中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部 -> 人社部 ，this emphasize the meaning.
but (传染性) 非典型肺炎 -> 非典 maybe emphasizing the serious of the ill,this one actually doesn't obey any concrete rule.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T11:39:20.960Z
So what is the concrete rule?
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T11:50:21.633Z
I mean,for example,a government department must use a abbreviation related to it's function,and most abbreviations follow this rule.Why use "人“in"人力资源"?,it's the same as in English.But when the abbreviation "非典" became popular,many Chinese scientist think it's wrong.....It's confusing to us Chinese too......
slyfc
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T12:05:51.697Z
I must say there isn't a rule for all abbreviations in Chinese
slyfc
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T11:16:12.833Z
2015-03-24T11:16:12.833Z
slyfc
<p>I found that a good reference for this is the Wikipedia entry on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters" rel="nofollow">simplified chinese characters</a>. In particular, in the section under methods of simplification, you'll find four different methods listed:</p>

<ul>
<li>Structural simplification of characters</li>
<li>Derivation based on simplified character components</li>
<li>Elimination of variants of the same character</li>
<li>Adoption of new standardized character forms</li>
</ul>

<p>And you'll find examples for each of the methods as well, but I won't bother repeating the contents here.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-09T15:01:39.887Z
This does not address the question.
Olle Linge
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T21:16:04.063Z
2015-03-23T21:16:04.063Z
Michael Lai
<p>In whatever way that makes it convenient. There are probably endless different techniques used if one bothers looking for examples.</p>

<p>The situation is analogous to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym">acronyms</a> in Western languages. If you read that wiki article you'll find a huge list of examples and techniques used. Sometimes it's taking the first letters of words (<strong>N</strong>orth <strong>A</strong>tlantic <strong>T</strong>reaty <strong>O</strong>rganization). Or the first few letters (<strong>Ge</strong>heime <strong>Sta</strong>ats<strong>po</strong>lizei). Sometimes even numbers are used (K9, 3M). Sometimes it's whatever the creators think is cool (GNU).</p>

<p>Back to your examples:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The 中华人民共和国 is highly redundant, so remove.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>人力资源和社会保障部</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is actually 4 words, 人力资源, 社会保障, 部. Words like 和 are redundant so remove. Take the first character of each word and voila:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>人社部</p>
</blockquote>

<p>With 非典型肺炎, it's a bit unusual. There are two words here, but the 非 modifies 典型 so you can't remove it without changing its meaning. So the best you can do using common techniques is "非典肺". From there it's easy to simply drop the 肺.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T06:01:57.340Z
2015-03-23T06:01:57.340Z
congusbongus
<p>There doesn't really seem to be a clear <em>standard</em>, if you will, of how things are abbreviated in Chinese. For example:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><code>中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部</code> -> <code>人社部</code> </p></li>
<li><p><code>(传染性)</code> <code>非典型肺炎</code> ->  <code>非典</code></p></li>
</ul>

<p>So: How are abbreviations determined in Chinese?</p>

<abbreviations>
How are abbreviations determined in Chinese?
# How are abbreviations determined in Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-23)

There doesn't really seem to be a clear *standard*, if you will, of how things are abbreviated in Chinese. For example:

* `中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部` -> `人社部`
* `(传染性)` `非典型肺炎` -> `非典`

So: How are abbreviations determined in Chinese?

**Tags:** abbreviations

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-03-23. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

In whatever way that makes it convenient. There are probably endless different techniques used if one bothers looking for examples.

The situation is analogous to [acronyms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym) in Western languages. If you read that wiki article you'll find a huge list of examples and techniques used. Sometimes it's taking the first letters of words (**N**orth **A**tlantic **T**reaty **O**rganization). Or the first few letters (**Ge**heime **Sta**ats**po**lizei). Sometimes even numbers are used (K9, 3M). Sometimes it's whatever the creators think is cool (GNU).

Back to your examples:

> 中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部

The 中华人民共和国 is highly redundant, so remove.

> 人力资源和社会保障部

This is actually 4 words, 人力资源, 社会保障, 部. Words like 和 are redundant so remove. Take the first character of each word and voila:

> 人社部

With 非典型肺炎, it's a bit unusual. There are two words here, but the 非 modifies 典型 so you can't remove it without changing its meaning. So the best you can do using common techniques is "非典肺". From there it's easy to simply drop the 肺.


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-03-24. Score: 1

中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部 -> 人社部 ，this emphasize the meaning.
but (传染性) 非典型肺炎 -> 非典 maybe emphasizing the serious of the ill,this one actually doesn't obey any concrete rule.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So what is the concrete rule?  
> **username_1**: I mean,for example,a government department must use a abbreviation related to it's function,and most abbreviations follow this rule.Why use "人“in"人力资源"?,it's the same as in English.But when the abbreviation "非典" became popular,many Chinese scientist think it's wrong.....It's confusing to us Chinese too......  
> **username_1**: I must say there isn't a rule for all abbreviations in Chinese  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-03-23. Score: -1

I found that a good reference for this is the Wikipedia entry on [simplified chinese characters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters). In particular, in the section under methods of simplification, you'll find four different methods listed:

* Structural simplification of characters
* Derivation based on simplified character components
* Elimination of variants of the same character
* Adoption of new standardized character forms

And you'll find examples for each of the methods as well, but I won't bother repeating the contents here.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: This does not address the question.  

---

