AB

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ab"

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Is the halal snack pack sense an initialism or other form of shortening?”)

Proper noun

AB

1. Abbreviation of Alberta, a province of Canada.

   Coordinate terms: BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, NT, NU, ON, PE, QC, SK, YT

2. Initialism of Artium baccalaureus.
3. Initialism of Aryan Brotherhood, a US white supremacist, neo-Nazi prison gang and crime syndicate.

Noun

AB (countable and uncountable, plural ABs)

1. Initialism of able seaman; able-bodied seaman.
   • Section 2(1), Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance (Cap. 478)

     In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires— A.B. means an able-bodied seaman […]

2. Initialism of afterburner.
3. Initialism of aid to the blind.
4. (military, aviation) Initialism of airbase.
5. (organic chemistry) Abbreviation of alkylbenzene.

   Hyponym: LAB

6. (medicine) Initialism of antibody.
7. Initialism of artificial breeding.
8. (law, politics) Initialism of assembly bill.
9. A blood type of the ABO system that has both blood antigens and may receive all blood types, and donate to AB.

   Coordinate terms: A, B, O, A+, B+, AB+, O+, A-, B-, AB-, O-

   1. (countable) A person with this blood type.
10. (ABDL) Initialism of adult baby.
11. (Australia, Adelaide, countable) A kind of halal snack pack.

Related terms

assembly bill

• AR
• HB
• HR
• SB
• SR

 

Adjective

AB (not comparable)

1. Initialism of airborne.
2. Initialism of antiballistic.
3. (baseball) Initialism of at bat.

See also

• AB language
• fast yellow AB

 

References

• “AB”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “AB”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• -ba-, B. A., B.A., BA, Ba, ba, ba'

Chinese

Etymology

From the first two letters of the English alphabet A and B.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ei¹ bi¹

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ei¹ bi¹
    • Yale: ēi bī
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ei¹ bi¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: éi¹ bi¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ei̯⁵⁵ piː⁵⁵/

Determiner

AB

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) two separate (instances)

   分AB team返工 [Cantonese]  ―  fan¹ ei¹ bi¹ tim¹ faan¹ gung¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to go to work separated into two teams (i.e. each team goes to work on alternative days)

   行AB team [Cantonese]  ―  haang⁴ ei¹ bi¹ tim¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to install an "AB team" system

   分AB組／分AB组 [Cantonese]  ―  fan¹ ei¹ bi¹ zou² [Jyutping]  ―  to separate into two groups

Related terms

• ABC

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

AB m

1. Abbreviation of Anrufbeantworter.
2. (apartment listing) Abbreviation of Altbau.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈabe/

Noun

AB (first-person possessive ABku, second-person possessive ABmu, third-person possessive ABnya)

1. (finance, government, management) Initialism of anggaran belanja.
2. Initialism of arah benar.
3. (military) Initialism of angkatan bersenjata.
4. (business, management) Initialism of administrasi bisnis.
5. (hematology) AB: A blood type of the ABO system that has both blood antigens and may receive all blood types, and donate to AB.

Further reading

• “AB” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [e.bi]
• Hyphenation: A‧B
• Rhymes: -bi

Noun

AB

1. (biology) the blood type AB
2. Initialism of anggaran belanja (“expense estimate”).

References

• “AB” in Kamus Dewan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2021, →ISBN, page 1.

Further reading

• “AB” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Romanian

Proper noun

AB

1. Abbreviation of Alba, a county in Romania.

Swedish

Alternative forms

• Ab (Finland Swedish, only in the sense "aktiebolag" below)

Noun

AB

1. the blood type AB
2. Abbreviation of aktiebolag. (corporation; stock company; public limited company)

Anagrams

• ba

Turkish

Noun

AB

1. the blood type AB

Proper noun

AB

1. (politics) Initialism of Avrupa Birliği (European Union)