A11Y

What Does A11Y Mean in a Text?

The Quick Answer

A11Y means "Accessibility."

More Observations...

The abbreviation A11Y (or a11y) is a numeronym that stands for "accessibility". It's created by replacing the 11 letters between the first and last letters of the word "accessibility" with the number 11. In the context of web development and design, A11Y refers to the inclusive practice of making websites and web applications more accessible and usable for all, including people with disabilities. A11Y can include practices like using appropriate color contrast for visibility, making sure sites can be navigated with a keyboard for people who can't use a mouse, providing alt text for images for people using screen readers, and many more strategies to ensure digital content is inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Image for A11Y

When I write A11Y, I mean this:

A11Y refers to the practice of making websites and web applications more accessible.

Summary of Key Points

We have summarized the key points in the table below:

A11Y
Definition:	Accessibility
Type:	Internet Slang Term
Guessability:	4: Difficult to guess
Typical Users:	Specialists

An Academic Look at A11Y

A11Y is classified as an "internet slang term" by our team, because some of its characters are used as substitutes for letters. "Slang terms" differ from emoticons because they are not pictorial representations. A11Y can also be is classified as a type of numeronym, which is a number-based word. Numeronyms can be formed in various ways, such as:

Shortening a word by replacing a sequence of letters with the count of those letters (e.g.,a11y, and i18n for "internationalization").
Combining letters and numbers (e.g, K9 for "canine,", W3 for "World Wide Web", and W3C for "World Wide Web Consortium".
Using numbers to represent letters or words (e.g., 143 for "I love you," 637 for "always and forever," and 5201314 for "I will love you for a lifetime").