When you're typing with your thumbs, you need to save your effort by communicating with as few letters as possible, right? Abbreviations and text message symbols work like a sort of shorthand to make texting easier and faster (plus they're just fun).
Most symbols make sense and have become a normal mainstay in texting, but it's still handy to have a guide to what they mean.
List of Common Text Message Abbreviations & Meanings
Texting has really changed the way we communicate. It's immediate, and you don't want to waste a ton of effort spelling everything out. Some text message symbols abbreviate words by leaving out vowels or replacing several letters with a single letter that has the same sound. Others are acronyms, replacing an entire sentence with the first letter of each word.
This list includes some of the most commonly used abbreviations and acronyms so you can get your point across super efficiently. Most often on text today people will use lowercase letters, but some phrases still get the capital-letter treatment. Some abbreviations are also more commonly seen through online chat or forums rather than text messages.
| Message | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Alright | alr |
| Ask me anything | AMA |
| Anyone | any1 |
| Are | r |
| Are you okay? | r u ok? |
| At | @ |
| At the moment | atm |
| Ate | 8 |
| Be | b |
| Be right back | brb |
| Because | bc or bcoz |
| Before | b4 |
| Best friends forever | BFF |
| Boyfriend | BF or bf |
| By the way | btw |
| Cutie | qt |
| Direct Message | DM or dm |
| Do it yourself | DIY |
| For | 4 |
| Forever | 4ever or 4eva |
| For the win | ftw |
| For your information | fiy |
| Friend of a friend | FOAF or foaf |
| Girlfriend | GF or gf |
| Good luck | gl |
| Good game | GG or gg |
| Got to go | gtg or g2g |
| Great | gr8 |
| Happy birthday | hbd |
| How about you? | hbu |
| Hugs and kisses | XO or xo |
| I don't care | idc |
| I don't know | idc |
| I guess | ig |
| I love you | ily |
| I miss you | imu or imy |
| I see | ic |
| If you know you know | iykyk |
| In my opinion | IMO |
| In real life | IRL or irl |
| Just in case | jic |
| Just kidding | jk |
| Just so you know | jsyk |
| Later | L8R or l8r |
| Laughing out loud | lol |
| Let me know | lmk |
| Love | luv ( referring to a person ) |
| Never mind | nvm |
| No big deal | nbd |
| No problem | np |
| Not for sale | nfs |
| Not going to lie | ngl |
| Not safe for work | NSFW or nsfw |
| Obviously | obv |
| Oh my God | OMG or om |
| On my way | onw |
| Or best offer | obo |
| People | ppl |
| Please | plz or pls |
| Point of view | POV |
| Quote of the day | QOTD |
| Real quick | rq |
| Right now | rn |
| Rolling on the floor with laughter | rofl |
| See you later | c u l8r |
| Shaking my head | smh |
| Sorry | sry or srry |
| Talk to you later | ttyl |
| Thank you | ty |
| Thanks | thx |
| Thinking about you | thinking ab u |
| To be determined | TBD or tbd |
| To be honest | tbh |
| Too long, didn't read | TL; DR |
| Today | 2day |
| Tonight | 2nite |
| Wait | w8 |
| Way to go | wtg |
| What are you doing? | wyd |
| What's good? | wsg |
| What's up? | wsp |
| Where are you at? | wya |
| Without | w/o or wo |
| You only live once | YOLO |
| You | u |
| Your or You're | ur |
When you're sending a texting symbol, it's definitely worth keeping your audience in mind. You need the person reading it to understand what you're talking about, and they may or may not know the meaning behind abbreviations for texting. Basically, if you text your grandma to tell her you "8" instead of "ate," she is going to be totally (and probably hilariously) confused.
Less Commonly Used Abbreviations or Acronyms
There are also some older text or online message symbols that aren't as commonly used, including the following.
| Message | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| And | & or + |
| At any rate | AAR |
| Back in five | BI5 |
| Belly laughing | BL |
| Better you than me | BYTM |
| Bored to death | B2D |
| Cancelled | CX |
| Don't mention it | DMI |
| End of text | ETX |
| Hi again | REHI |
| Face to face | F2F |
| Kiss for you | K4U or KFY |
| Keep it real | KIR |
| Must be nice | MBN |
| Moving right along | MRA |
| Oh no I didn't | ONID |
| One to one | 121 |
| Over and out | OAO |
| Quit Laughing | QL |
| Read and find out | ROFO |
| Reason to be single | RTBS |
| Same to you | S2U |
Common Text Message Emoticon Symbols
Emoticons are pictures or faces made from characters on a phone's keypad. They've mostly been replaced with emojis these days, but you can give your messages a retro cute look by including them. You may choose to send emoticons to express your mood or add some humor or personality to a message rather than typing out an entire message or sending an emoji.
Emoticons actually predate texting and are from the early days of the internet. Think of them as the grandparents of today's emoji. Using them is a cute nod to the past, though.
| Meaning | Emoticon |
|---|---|
| Angel | 0:-) |
| Angry | >:-( |
| Baby | ~:o |
| Braces | :-# |
| Cat | =^.^= |
| Confused | :-/ or %-( or :-S |
| Crying | :'-( or : ,-( |
| Dork | 8-B |
| Drool | :-)... |
| Elvis Presley | 5:-) |
| Evil | >-) |
| Glasses | 8-) |
| Greedy | $_$ |
| Happy | :-) or :) |
| Happy Tears | :') |
| Heart | <3 |
| Hugs | (((H))) |
| Intoxicated | %-} |
| King | \VVV/ |
| Kiss | :-* |
| Laughing | :-D |
| Liar | :-----) |
| Lips are sealed | :-x |
| Pig | :@ |
| Pirate | P-( |
| Punk | -:-) |
| Queen | \%%%/ |
| Robot | <(-_-)> |
| Rolling your eyes | @@ |
| Rose | @-}--- |
| Runny Nose | :-~) |
| Sad | :-( or :( |
| Santa Claus | *<|:o)> |
| Shifty | :-\ |
| Shock | :-() |
| Smoking | :-Q |
| Snake | ~~~~8} |
| Sticking tongue out | :-p or :p |
| Sunglasses | B-) |
| Surprised | :-o |
| Tongue-tied | :-& |
| Uncle Sam | =I:-)= |
| Wink | ;-) or ;) |
| Yawn | |-O |
| Yelling | :-@ |
There are a couple of non-emoji emoticons some people like to regularly use. XO means a surprised face, and XD stands for an excited emoticon or a big smiley face.
Text Message Symbols Your Phone Gives You
Not all texting symbols are things you send to someone. Sometimes, your phone uses a symbol to tell you what's going on with your text. The symbols depend on the the kind of phone you have.
Android Texting Symbols
When you send a text with an Android phone, you may see these symbols:
- Single check mark - Your text was sent.
- Double check mark - Your text was received by the person you're texting.
- Colored double check mark - The person you're texting read your message.
- Clock with timer - Your text is still sending.
iPhone Texting Symbols
If you have an iPhone, you might see symbols like these when you're texting:
- ... - The other person is typing back.
- Red exclamation point in a circle - Your message did not send.
- Heart - The other person loves your message.
- Thumbs up - The other person likes your message.
- Thumbs down - The other person does not like your message.
Save Time With Text Abbreviations
With these symbols and abbreviations for texting, not only will you save time, but you will also be able to send longer texts that contain more personality and emotion. Plus, it's just good to know the symbols so you can understand the texts you receive or the abbreviations in comments or DMs on Instagram and other sites. It's all about good communication too, so if you aren't sure what something means, there's no shame in asking.
