By Judy Vorfeld
Wonder how to abbreviate days of the week and months? Let’s take three excellent style guides and see what they offer.
THE GREGG REFERENCE MANUAL, TENTH EDITION (502) says, “Days of the week, names of the months … should be abbreviated only on business forms, in expedient documents, and in tables, lists, and narrow columns of text.”
Gregg is addressing the use of business documents, for the most part. In other kinds of writing, where a more formal style is appropriate, use abbreviations sparingly. When in doubt, spell it out.”
A recent AP STYLEBOOK says, “When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.”
It says that in tabular material, use three-letter forms without a period (the first three letters of each month).
The AP Stylebook, published primarily for journalists, also says to capitalize the days of the week, and to not abbreviate them except when needed to facilitate tabular composition.
THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, 16th EDITION (10.40, 1041) supports the works of authors, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers. “Where space restrictions require that names of the month be abbreviated,” it says, “one of the following systems is often used.” It follows with these examples:
- Jan. (or Jan or Ja)
- Feb. (or Feb or F)
- Mar. (or Mar or Mr)
- Apr. (or Apr or Ap)
- May (or May or My)
- June (or Jun or Je)
- July (or Jul or Jl)
- Aug. (or Aug or Ag)
- Sept. (or Sep or S)
- Oct. (or Oct or O)
- Nov. (or Nov or N)
- Dec. (or Dec or D)
CMS says much the same about days of the week. Use where space restrictions exist as follows:
- Sun. or Sun or Su
- Mon. or Mon or M
- Tues. or Tues or Tu
- Wed. or Wed or W
- Thurs. or Thurs or Th
- Fri. or Fri or F
- Sat. or Sat or Sa
Incidentally, you can buy the online edition of the AP Stylebook here.
