ackn.
/ak/, U.S. /æk/ Originally Military. Now historical.
A syllable used to represent the letter a in signalling and telephone communications, and in the oral spelling of messages.In military use replaced by able in December, 1942. Now generally superseded by alpha/alfa.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > manner of writing > transliteration > [noun] > of letter a for code or telephone communication
ack1898
able1942
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > call or message > terms used in
emma1891
ack1898
pip1898
toc1898
vic1913
1898 Signalling Instr. (War Office) 86 The letters T, A, B, M,..will be called toc, ak [1904 Signalling Regs. ack], beer, emma.
1913 Signalling (Imperial Army Series) ii. 19 The letters T, A, B, M, S, P and V will be called toc, ack, beer, emma, esses, pip, and vic respectively, so as to distinguish them phonetically from letters of similar sound.
1918 Signalling Simplified ii Special Names of Letters. (Semaphore and Morse.) A = Ack... Note that, in signalling, these Special Names must always be used, i.e. A is always Ack, M is always Emma, and so on.
1944 Amer. Speech 19 293 Beer is the British Army's word for the letter B, used to insure clarity in messages, as Ack is the word for A.
2002 Times (Nexis) 23 Apr. The British Army before the First World War identified seven letters that gave common reception problems (a, b, m, s, t, v) and replaced them with ack, beer, emma, esses, toc, vic.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1898