HTML <abbr> Tag

The HTML <abbr> tag creates the 'abbr' element, which represents an abbreviation or acronym.

It is not necessarily a requirement to use the <abbr> when presenting an abbreviation. It is simply a tag that can be useful in many cases when doing so (for example, using the title attribute to expand on the abbreviation, or using style sheets to apply to the <abbr> element).

Note that the (global) title attribute has special semantics on the <abbr> element. If used, it must provide an expansion of the abbreviation/acronym (but nothing else).

Syntax

The <abbr> tag is written as <abbr></abbr> with the abbreviation/acronym inserted between the start and end tags. You can add the title attribute to the first instance of the abbreviation to provide an expansion.

Like this:

Examples

Basic tag usage

With Title Attribute

Plural

If an abbreviation or acronym is pluralized, the value of any title attribute must match any pluralization of the <abbr> contents.

In other words, if the plural is outside the <abbr> element, then the title attribute's value must be singular (i.e. not pluralized). If on the other hand, the plural is inside the <abbr> element, the title attribute's value must be plural.

Here's an example of the plural being outside the <abbr> element:

Here's an example of the plural being inside the <abbr> element:

Attributes

Attributes can be added to an HTML element to provide more information about how the element should appear or behave.

There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.

The <abbr> element accepts the following attributes.

Element-Specific Attributes

This table shows the attributes that are specific to the <abbr> tag/element.

AttributeDescription
None 

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML5 elements. Therefore, you can use these attributes with the <abbr> tag , as well as with all other HTML tags.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.

Event Handler Content Attributes

Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.

Below are the standard HTML5 event handler content attributes.

Again, you can use any of these with the <abbr> element, as well as any other HTML5 element.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

None.

To see more detail on the two versions see HTML5 <abbr> Tag and HTML4 <abbr> Tag. Also check out the links to the official specifications below.

Template

Here's a template for the <abbr> tag with all available attributes for the tag (based on HTML5). These are grouped into attribute types, each type separated by a space. In many cases, you will probably only need one or two (if any) attributes. Simply remove the attributes you don't need.

For more information on attributes for this tag, see HTML5 <abbr> Tag and HTML4 <abbr> Tag.

* The title attribute has special semantics on the <abbr> element. If used, it must provide an expansion of the abbreviation/acronym and nothing else.

Tag Details

For more details about the <abbr> tag, see HTML5 <abbr> Tag and HTML4 <abbr> Tag.

Specifications

Here are the official specifications for the <abbr> element.

What's the Difference?

W3C creates "snapshot" specifications that don't change once defined. So the HTML5 specification won't change once it becomes an official recommendation. WHATWG on the other hand, develops a "living standard" that is updated on a regular basis. In general, you will probably find that the HTML living standard will be more closely aligned to the current W3C draft than to the HTML5 specification.