List of Latin abbreviations

This is a list of common Latin abbreviations. Nearly all the abbreviations below have been adopted by Modern English. However, with some exceptions (for example, versus or modus operandi), most of the Latin referent words and phrases are perceived as foreign to English. In a few cases, English referents have replaced the original Latin ones (e.g., "rest in peace" for RIP and "postscript" for PS).

Latin was once the universal academic language in Europe. From the 18th century, authors started using their mother tongues to write books, papers or proceedings. Even when Latin fell out of use, many Latin abbreviations continued to be used due to their precise simplicity and Latin's status as a learned language.^{[citation needed]}