List of acronyms: P
(Main list of acronyms)
- p – pico
- P – Peta – Phosphorus
P0–9
- P2P – Peer-to-peer
- P3I or P3I – PrePlanned Product Improvement
PA
- pa – Punjabi language
- pA – picoampere
- Pa
- * pascal
- * Protactinium
- PA
- * Pamela Anderson
- * Panama
- * Paraguay
- * Partial Agonist
- * Pennsylvania
- * petampere
- * PolyAmide
- * Prince Albert piercing
- * Public Address
- * Public Affairs
- PA 6 – Nylon 6
- PAA – Position Area for Artillery
- PAB – Panamanian balboa
- PABX – Private Automated Branch eXchange
- PAC
- * Pan Africanist Congress
- * Partial Solar Calibrator
- * Patriot Advanced Capabilities
- * Political action committee
- * Primary Auditory Cortex
- PACER – Public Access to Court Electronic Records
- PACOM – (U.S.) Pacific Command
- PADD
- * Personal Access Display Device
- * Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts, used for data collection in the U.S. petroleum industry
- PADI – Professional Association of Diving Instructors
- PAEK – PolyArylEtherKetone
- PAFC – Plymouth Argyle Football Club
- PAH – Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
- PAHO – Pan American Health Organization
- PAI
- * PolyAmide Imide
- * Pre-Approval Inspection
- PAK – Pakistan
- Pakistan – Punjab, Afghan states, Kashmir, sIndh, baluchiSTAN
- PAL
- * Phase Alternating Line
- * Philippine Airlines
- PAM – Precision Attack Missile
- Pamida – Patrick, Michael, and David, sons of the department store chain's co-founder Jim Witherspoon
- PAMELA
- * Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics
- * Pedestrian Accessibility and Movement Environment Laboratory
- pan – Punjabi language
- PAN
- * Panama
- * Partai Amanat Nasional – Indonesian political party
- * Partido Acción Nacional – political parties in El Salvador, Mexico, and Nicaragua
- * Partido de Avanzada Nacional – Guatemalan political party
- * Personal area network
- * PolyAcryloNitrile
- * Programa de Asistencia Nutricional – U.S. federal program for nutritional needs of poor families in Puerto Rico
- PANS – Pretty Advanced/Awesome Network Services
- Pan-STARRS – Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System
- PAO
- * Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos
- * Poly Alpha Olefin
- * Public Affairs Officer
- PAOK – Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstantinoupoliton
- PAP
- * People's Action Party
- * Internet slang for Post a Picture
- PAPI – Precision Approach Path Indicator
- PAR – Paraguay
- PARC – Palo Alto Research Center
- PAROS – Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space
- PARP – Planning And Review Process
- PARWIG – Power Augmented Ram Wing In Ground
- PAS – See entry
- PASA – PolyAmide, Semi-Aromatic
- PASGT – Personnel Armor System, Ground Troops
- PASR – Personnel Accounting and Strength Reporting
- PatD - Panic! at the Disco
- PATH – Port Authority Trans-Hudson
- PAWS
- * Phased Array Warning System
- * Progressive Animal Welfare Society
- PAYD – Pay As You Drive
- PAYE – Pay As You Earn
PB
- Pb – Lead
- PB – PolyButylene
- PBA
- * Philippine Basketball Association
- * Professional Bowlers Association
- PBB – PolyBrominated Biphenyl
- PBC
- * Push Button Connect, a WPS method
- * Playback Control, a feature on Video CD and Super Video CD
- PBCK – Problem Between Chair and Keyboard
- PBD – PolyButaDiene
- PBDE – PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ether
- PBI – PolyBenzImidazole
- PBIS - Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
- PBN – PolyButylene Naphthalate
- PBOH – Please Become Old History
- PBR
- * Pabst Blue Ribbon
- * Professional Bull Riders
- PBS
- * Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- * Public Broadcasting Service
- * Public Broadcasting Services
- PBRT - may stand for: Physically Based Raytracing, an open source software rendering system for physically correct image synthesis.
- PBT – PolyButylene Terephthalate
- PBX – Private Branch eXchange
PC
- pC – picocoulomb
- PC
- * petacoulomb
- * U.S. Pacific Islands Trust Territory
- * Personal computer
- * Player Character
- * Politically Correct / Political Correctness
- * post cibum
- PCAS – Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey
- PCB – see entry
- PCC
- * NATO Partnership Coordination Cell
- * Posterior Cingulate Cortex
- * Pre-Command Course
- * Presidents Conference Committee
- PCCB – Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake
- PCCIP – President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection
- PCE – PerChlorEthylene
- PCI
- * U.S. Pacific Islands Trust Territory
- * Peripheral Component Interconnect
- PCIe – Peripheral Component Interconnect Express
- PCL – Passive Coherent Location
- PCMCIA – Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
- PCN – Pitcairn Islands
- PCP
- * phencyclidine
- * Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia
- * Probabilistically Checkable Proof
- PCPI – Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement
- PCR – Polymerase chain reaction
- PCSSD - Pulaski County Special School District
- PCT
- * Pacific Crest Trail
- * Patent Cooperation Treaty
- PCTE
- * Portable Common Tool Environment
- * Punjab College of Technical Education
- PCZ – Panama Canal Zone
PD
- Pd – Palladium
- PD
- * per diem
- * Point of Departure
- * Police Department
- * Postal District
- * Potential Difference
- * Principal Deputy
- * Privatdozent
- * Public domain
- PD – Product Director—Example: CERDEC Product Director C4ISR and Network Modernization
- PDA
- * Personal Digital Assistant
- * Predicted Drift Angle
- * Public Display of Affection
- * Push-Down Automaton
- PDD
- * Past Due Date
- * Presidential Decision Directive
- * Panamanian Defense Forces|Panama Defense Forces
- * Portable Document Format
- * Principal Direction of Fire
- PDG
- * President Director General
- * Product Development Group
- PDL
- * Premier Development League, a former name of the U.S. minor soccer league now known as USL League Two
- * Pure Dumb Luck
- PDN – Pull-Down Network
- PDP
- * Programmable Data Processor
- * Performance Development Plan
- PDQ
- * Pre-Defined Queries
- * Pretty Damn Quick
- PDRY – People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
- PDT – Pacific Daylight Time|Pacific Daylight Time
- PDU
- * Police Dog Unit
- * Power Distribution Unit
- * Protocol Data Unit
- PDVSA – ''Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.''
PE
- PE – Professional Engineer
- PE – Ice Pellets – Peru – Physical Education – Premature Ejaculation – Prince Edward Island – Price to Earning ratio – Plant Extract
- PEBCAC – Problem Exists Between Chair and Computer
- PEBKAC – Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair
- PEEK – PolyEtherEtherKetone
- PEET – Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy
- PEGIDA – Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes
- PEI – Prince Edward Island – PolyEtherImide
- PEK – PolyEtherKetone
- PEMDAS - The order of operations in math
- PEN
- * Peruvian sol
- * Poets, Essayists and Novelists, the original meaning of the initialism of the organization now known as PEN International
- * PolyEthylene Naphthalate
- PEO – Παγκύπρια Εργατική Ομοσπονδία – Philanthropic Educational Organization – PolyEthylene Oxide – Professional Employer Organization – Professional Engineers Ontario
- PEPFAR – President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
- PER – Peru
- perl – usually lower case Practical Extraction and Report Language
- PERM -
- PES – PolyEtherSulfone
- PEST – UK Public Engagement with Science and Technology
- PET – Personal Electronic Transactor – Pierre Elliott Trudeau – Positron Emission Tomography – PolyEthylene Terephthalate – Preliminary English Test
- PETA – pentaerythritol triacrylate – People Eating Tasty Animals – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
- PETE – PolyEthyleneTErephthalate
- PETP – PolyEthyleneTerePhthalate
PF
- pF – picofarad
- PF
- * French Polynesia
- * petafarad
- * Phenol Formaldehyde (resin)
- * Power forward, a player position in Australian rules football, basketball, and ice hockey
- PFD – Permanent Fund Dividend = personal flotation device
- PFE – Permanent Forest Estate
- PFLAG – Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
- PFIY – Please Fix it Yourself
- PFO – Pissed, Fell Over
- PfP – Partnership for Peace
- PFW
- * Pro Football Weekly
- * Purdue University Fort Wayne
PG
- pg – picogram
- Pg – petagram
- PG –
- * propylene glycol
- * Papua New Guinea
- * Parental Guidance
- * Point guard
- PG-13 (disambiguation) –
- PGCE – Postgraduate Certificate in Education
- PGD – Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis
- PG&E – Pacific Gas & Electric
- PGENI – Pharmaco-Genetics for Every Nation Initiative
- PGH – Pre-implantation Genetic Haplotyping
- PGK – Papua New Guinea kina
- PGM – Precision-Guided Munition
- PGP – Pretty Good Privacy
PH
- pH
- * parts of hydrogen
- * picohenry
- PH
- * Passive Homing
- * petahenry
- * Philippines
- * Probability of Hit
- * Professional hunter
- * Public Health
- * Purple Heart
- * Pakatan Harapan
- PHA
- * PolyHydroxyAlkanoate
- * Potentially hazardous asteroid
- Ph.D. – Philosophiæ Doctor
- PHEV – Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
- PHF
- * Paired helical filaments
- * Potentially Hazardous Food
- * Premier Hockey Federation
- PHL – Philippines
- PHQ - Patient Health Questionnaire
- PHP
- * Philippine peso
- * PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
PI
- pi – Pāli language
- Pi – Pebi
- PI
- * PolyImide
- * PolyIsoprene
- * Private Investigator
- PIB – PolyIsoButylene
- PIC – Person In Charge
- PICNIC – Problem In Chair Not In Computer
- PICS – Private Investment Capital Subscription
- PID
- * Pelvic inflammatory disease
- * Plan Identification Number
- * Positive Identification
- * Procedural Identification
- * Procurement Identification Description
- PIDOOMA – Pulled It Directly Out Of My Ass
- PIF – Partners in Flight
- PIG – Pipeline Inspection Gauge
- PIGS – Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain; PIIGS if including Ireland; PIIGGS if including the United Kingdom
- PIGS – Passenger Inert Guidance Systems – Movable tape barrier, typically used on airport aprons to guide passengers to/from their aircraft avoiding danger areas.
- PIM
- * Parameterized Ionospheric Model
- * Path of Intended Motion
- * Pediatric Index of Mortality
- * Personal Information Manager/Management
- * Presence and Interworking Mobility
- * Processor-In-Memory
- * Program Integration Manager
- * Protocol Independent Multicast
- PIN – Personal Identification Number
- PINF – People In Need Foundation
- PIPA – Program on International Policy Attitudes
- PIR – Priority Intelligence Requirement
- PIRA – Provisional Irish Republican Army
- PIREPS – Pilot Reports
- PITA – Pain In The Ass
- P.I. - Philippines Islands
- PITS - Person In The Seat. A common problem as to why a computer is not working properly. It is a PITS issue.
PJ
PK
- K – picokelvin
- PK – Pakistan – petakelvin – Player Kill – Probability of Kill – PolyKetone – Pulemet Kalashnikova
- PKA – previously known as – professionally known as
- PKE – Partnership of Kindermusik Educators
- PKI – public key infrastructure
- PKM – Pulemet Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy
- PKMS – Pulemet Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy Stepanova
- PKMT – Pulemet Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy Tankoviy
- PKR
- * Pakistani rupee
- * People's Justice Party (Malaysia)
- PKT – Pulemet Kalashnikova Tankoviy
- PKTM – Pulemet Kalashnikova Tankoviy Modernizirovanniy
- PKU – Phenylketonuria
PL
- pl – Polish language
- pL – picolitre
- PL
- * Ice Pellets
- * petalitre
- * Phase Line
- * Poland
- PLA
- * People's Liberation Army
- * Programmable logic array
- PLAF
- * People's Liberation Armed Forces
- * Pluggable look and feel
- * Product Line Architecture Framework
- PLAID – Precision Location and Identification
- PLB – Personal Locator Beacon
- PLC – Public Limited Company
- PLCC – Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier
- PLD – Probable Line of Deployment
- PLEBS – People Lacking Everyday Basic Skills
- PLF – Parachute Landing Fall
- PLGR – Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver
- pli – Pāli language
- PLI
- * Position Location Information
- * Practising Law Institute
- * Private Lands Initiative
- * Professional Liability Insurance
- PLIF – Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence
- PLK – Polska Liga Koszykówki
- PLKK – Polska Liga Koszykówki Kobiet, former name of the league now known as Basket Liga Kobiet
- PLL
- * Phase-Locked Loop
- * Premier Lacrosse League
- PLM – Polarized Light Microscope/Microscopy
- PLMBA - Phospholipid Bilayer Microarray
- Pln – Platoon
- PLN – Polish zloty
- PLO – Palestine Liberation Organization
- PLOKTA – Press Lots Of Keys To Abort
- PLP – Platonic Life Partner
- PLS
- * Palletized Loading System
- * Personal Locator System
- PLUTO – Pipe Line Under The Ocean
- PLW – Palau
PM
- pm – picometre
- Pm – petametre – Promethium
- PM – Panama – Perry Mason – Phase Modulation – Post Meridiem – Prime Minister – Project Manager – Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- PMC – Primary Motor Cortex
- PMCS – Partial Mission Capable Supply – Power Management Control System – Professional Military Comptroller School
- PME – Professional Military Education
- PMHT – Pardon My Hashtag
- PMI – Positive Material Identification
- PMID – PubMed Identifier
- PMMA – PolyMethylMethAcrylate
- PMO — Principal Medical Officer
- PMOS – P-type/Positive Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor transistor
- PMS – Premenstrual Syndrome
- PMSC – NATO Political-Military Steering Committee on Partnership for Peace
- PMSL – Piss Myself Laughing
- PMT - Premenstrual Tension
PN
- pN – piconewton
- PN
- * petanewton
- * Pitcairn Islands
- * Perikatan Nasional
- PNAC – Project for the New American Century
- PNC
- * Palestinian National Council
- * Palmerston North City
- * Parti nationaliste chrétien, defunct Quebec political party
- * Pittsburgh National Corporation, one of the two companies that merged into today's PNC Financial Services
- * Provident National Corporation, the other company that merged into PNC Financial Services
- PNF – Pilot Not Flying
- PNG
- * Papua New Guinea
- * Portable Network Graphics
- PNP
- * Parti national populaire, defunct Quebec political party
- * Partido Nuevo Progresista
- * Plug 'N' Play/Pray
- * Positive Negative Positive
- PNS – Pensacola, Florida
- PNVS – Pilot Night Vision Sensor
- PNH
- * Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
- * Police Nationale d'Haïti
PO
- Po – Polonium
- PO
- * Dust Devil
- * per os
- * Portugal
- PO – Post Office
- PO – Purchase Order
- POCD – Post-Operative Cognitive Dysfunction
- pod – Plain Old Documentation
- POD
- * Payable on Death
- * Point of divergence
- * Port of Debarkation
- POE – Perl Object Environment – Port Of Embarkation Polyol Este
r Power Over Ethernet - POETS – Portable Occultation, Eclipse, and Transit electronic-camera System
- POFF – Plain Old Flat File
- POG – Passionfruit, Orange and Guava
- POGO – Project On Government Oversight
- POI
- * Program Of Instruction
- * Place of Interest
- * Point of Interest
- * Person of Interest
- POK – Plane Of Knowledge
- pol – Polish language
- POL
- * Petroleum, Oils and Lubricants
- * Poland
- POLAD – Political Advice
- POM
- * Program Objective Memorandum
- * PolyOxyMethylene
- POMDP – Partially observable Markov decision process
- POP
- * Point of Presence
- * Post Office Protocol
- * Progesterone Only Pill
- por – Portuguese language
- POR
- * Portugal
- * Proposed Operational Requirement
- POS
- * Point Of Sale terminal
- * Piece Of Shit
- * Position
- POSH – Port Outbound Starboard Home
- POTC o PotC – Pirates of the Caribbean
- POSSLQ – Person of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
- POT – Plane Of Tranquility
- POTS
- * Plain Old Telephone Service
- * Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
- POV – Point of view / Point of vision
- POW – Prisoner of war
PP
- pp
- * pages, especially in references, e.g. "A. U. Thor, Title, Journal X, Vol. 1, no. 2 pp. 13-42."
- PP
- * Papua New Guinea
- * Passage Point
- * per procurationem
- PPA
- * Parahippocampal Place Area
- * PolyPhthalAmide
- PPASC – Plans and Program Analysis Support Center
- PPASSCCATAG - "Proud Parents Against Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples And Teens And Gays", a fictional group formed by Marge Simpson
- PPCLI – Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
- PPG
- * Pittsburgh Plate Glass
- * The Powerpuff Girls
- PPL
- * Pakistan Petroleum Limited
- * Pay per lead
- * Pennsylvania Power & Light, former name of the U.S. utility company now known as PPL
- * Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Liechtensteins
- * Phonographic Performance Limited
- PPLI – Precise Participant Location & Identification
- ppm – Parts Per Million
- PPM – Project Planning and Management
- PPO – PolyPhenylene Oxide
- PPP
- * Point-to-Point Protocol
- * Purchasing Power Parity
- PPQ – Pulses Per Quarter
- PPQN – Pulses Per Quarter Note
- PPQT – Pre-Production Qualification Test
- PPS
- * post postscriptum
- * Precise/Precision Positioning Service
- * PolyPhenylene Sulfide
- PPV – Pay-per-view
PQ
- PQ
- * Province of Québec
- * Parti Québécois
PR
- Pr – Pastor or Priest
- Pr – Praseodymium
- PR
- * Public Relations
- * Puerto Rico
- Prb – Presbyter
- PRBO – Point Reyes Bird Observatory
- PRC – People's Republic of China
- PRD – CERDEC Product Realization Directorate
- PRFG – Partial Fog
- PRI – Puerto Rico
- Prinair - Puerto Rico International Airlines
- PRK – Democratic People's Republic of Korea
- PRM – Personnel Readiness Management
- PRN – pro re nata
- PRT
- * Portugal
- * Provincial Reconstruction Team
- PRY – Paraguay
PS
- ps
- * Pashto language
- * picosecond
- pS – picosiemens
- Ps – petasecond
- PS
- * Palestinian Territory, Occupied
- * Personnel Services
- * petasiemens
- * post scriptum
- * Power Steering
- * Power Supply
- * Public School
- PooS – Poo Sniffer
- PSA
- * Pacific Southwest Airlines
- * Paralysis Society of America
- * Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
- * Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive
- * Production Services Association
- * Prostate Specific Antigen
- * Public Service Announcement
- * Public Service Association
- PSC
- * Personal service corporation
- * Primary Somatosensory Cortex
- PSE
- * Palestinian Territory, Occupied
- * Precision Shooting Equipment, the expanded name of PSE Archery
- PSG
- * Pacific Seabird Group
- * Paris Saint-Germain
- PSI - Pounds per square inch
- PSI – Portable Source Initiative
- PSO
- * Peace Support Operations
- * Primary Standardisation Office
- * Protocol Supporting Organization
- PSS – Personnel System Support
- PST – Pacific Standard Time
- PSU – Pennsylvania State University
- PSV
- * Philips Sport Vereniging
- * Public Service Vehicle
- PsyOp – Psychological Operations
PT
- pt – Portuguese language
- pT – picotesla
- Pt – Platinum
- PT – petatesla – Physical Training – Portugal
- PTA – Parent-Teacher Association
- PTAL – Public Transport Accessibility Level
- PTAN –
- * Precision Terrain Aided Navigation
- * Provider Transaction Access Number
- PTCAS - Physical Therapy Centralized Application System
- PTES - People's Trust for Endangered Species
- PTFE – PolyTetraFluoroEthylene
- PTI – Pardon the Interruption
- PTL – Patrol – Primary Target Line
- PTO – Patent and Trademark Office – please turn over
- PTSD – Posttraumatic stress disorder
- PTUI – Plain-Text User Interface
PU
- Pu – Plutonium
- PU
- * Guinea-Bissau
- * Polyurethane
- * United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands
- Pub – Publication
- PUG – PET Users Group
- PUN – Pull-Up Network
- PUP – Pull-Up Point
- PUR – Puerto Rico
- pus – Pashto language
- PUS – United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands
PV
- pV – picovolt
- PV – petavolt
- PVC
- * Permanent Virtual Circuit
- * PolyVinyl Chloride
- * Premature Ventricular Contraction
- * Primary Visual Cortex
- PvE – Player versus Environment
- PvP – Player versus Player
- PVR – Personal Video Recorder
- PvZ – ''Plants vs. Zombies''
PW
- pW – picowatt
- PW
- * Palau
- * petawatt
- PWA – Pirates With Attitude
- PWBA – Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration
- PwC – PricewaterhouseCoopers
- PWC – PieceWise Constant
- PWHL
- * Professional Women's Hockey League, a North American women's ice hockey league
- * Provincial Women's Hockey League, a junior ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Ontario
- PWL – PieceWise Linear
- PWLC – PieceWise Linear and Concave/Convex
- PWM - Pulse-width Modulation
- PWP – Plot, What Plot? / Porn Without Plot
- PWR – Pressurized Water Reactor
- PWV – Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging, the original name for the South African province now known as Gauteng, and still used to refer to the metropolitan agglomeration at the core of the province
PX
PY
- PY – Paraguay – Person-Year – Portsmouth yardstick
- PYF – French Polynesia
- PYG – Paraguayan guaraní
- PYMWYMI – Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
PZ
- PZ – Panama Canal Zone – Pickup Zone