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nouns - Does the word "units" have a valid abbreviation?


Is there any precedent for abbreviating the word Units, and if more than one, is there any standardized prescription (no pun intended on my example) for which abbreviation to use in which context?


The question came up because I'm making a user input form with a field for units and the framework optionally specifies an abbreviation for the input field's label.


So, in a medical context, this


Prescription: [Hydrocodone]

is as valid is this


Rx: [Hydrocodone]

But can this


Units: [Milligrams]

be correctly substituted with something like this?


U: [Milligrams]

(NB, I'm not asking specifically about a medical context or about the accuracy of U, it's merely an example)


Note that the meaning of units as a synonym for pieces (pcs.) may be a different answer. In this case, I'm asking about units as a category including kilograms and miles. (Bonus points for also providing the answer for that other meaning.)



Answer



In materiel management these distinct concepts of "unit" are called the "Unit of Measure" (U/M or UOM) and "Unit of Issue" (U/I or UOI), but these terms may be unfamiliar to some.



ORIGINAL ANSWER assumed a medical context, kept here for posterity:


In a medical context, I'd be careful not to use any abbreviations that could be ambiguous. In particular, there is another meaning of the word "units" in pharmacy:


Unit 1 - a category of measurements, like kilograms, and miles.


Unit 2 - piece, item


Unit 3 - abbreviated U, or often International Unit (IU), an "unit of measurement for the amount of a substance, based on biological activity or effect." Different drugs have different-sized U's.


If you were to use the abbreviation U you might run into confusion with the last definition.


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