abbreviate

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The Word of the Day for October 5 is: 

abbreviate   \uh-BREE-vee-ayt\   verb
     : to make briefer; especially : to reduce to a shorter form 
intended to stand for the whole

Example sentence:
     "Engineers abbreviate the words 'pounds per square foot' 
as 'psf.'" (Mario Salvadori, _Why Buildings Stand Up_)

Did you know?
     "Abbreviate" and "abridge" both mean "to make shorter," so 
it probably will come as no surprise that both derive from the 
Latin verb "brevis," meaning "short." "Abbreviate" first 
appeared in print in English in the 15th century, and derives 
from "abbreviatus," the past participle of Late 
Latin "abbreviare," which in turn can be traced back 
to "brevis." "Abridge," which appeared a century earlier, also 
comes from "abbreviare," but took a side trip through Anglo-
French before arriving in Middle English as "abregen." "Brevis" 
is also the ancestor of the English "brief" itself, as well 
as "brevity" and "breviary" ("a prayer book" or "a brief 
summary"), among others.