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.

   Synonym: 12

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.
   • 2025 April 1, FOX26 News Staff, “Both transgender athlete bills fail in California”, in FOX26 News‎^[1]:

     AB-89 would have required that participation in sex-segregated California school programs, athletic teams, and facility use be based on a pupil’s sex, not gender identity.

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. Initialism of asymmetric bars.
12. (Australia, Adelaide, countable) A halal snack pack consisting of doner meat topped with chips, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, barbecue sauce, and garlic sauce.

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

French

Proper noun

AB ?

1. Initialism of agriculture biologique.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

AB m

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

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈabe/

Noun

AB (plural AB-AB)

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

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 of Indonesia, 2016.

Lithuanian

Proper noun

AB f

1. Initialism of akcinė bendrovė

Malay

Pronunciation

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

Noun

AB (plural AB-AB)

1. (biology) The AB blood type.
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)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑːbeː/

• Audio (Småland):

  (file)

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)