The Canadian Style
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1.07 Military abbreviations
In the following tables, the middle column gives the abbreviations used by the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Forces (CF), and the right-hand column those used in non-DND/CF writing:
Army and Air Force
| Rank | DND/CF writing | non-DND/CF writing |
|---|---|---|
| General | Gen | Gen. |
| Lieutenant-General | LGen | Lt.-Gen. |
| Major-General | MGen | Maj.-Gen. |
| Brigadier-General | BGen | Brig.-Gen. |
| Colonel | Col | Col. |
| Lieutenant-Colonel | LCol | Lt.-Col. |
| Major | Maj | Maj. |
| Captain | Capt | Capt. |
| Lieutenant | Lt | Lieut. |
| Second Lieutenant | 2Lt | 2nd Lieut. |
| Officer Cadet | OCdt | (not abbreviated) |
| Chief Warrant Officer | CWO | (not abbreviated) |
| Master Warrant Officer | MWO | (not abbreviated) |
| Warrant Officer | WO | (not abbreviated) |
| Sergeant | Sgt | Sgt. |
| Master Corporal | MCpl | (not abbreviated) |
| Corporal | Cpl | Cpl. |
| Private | Pte | Pte. |
Navy
| Rank | DND/CF writing | non-DND/CF writing |
|---|---|---|
| Admiral | Adm | (not abbreviated) |
| Vice-Admiral | VAdm | (not abbreviated) |
| Rear-Admiral | RAdm | (not abbreviated) |
| Commodore | Cmdre | (not abbreviated) |
| Captain(N) | Capt(N) | Capt. |
| Commander | Cdr | Cmdr. |
| Lieutenant-Commander | LCdr | Lt.-Cmdr. |
| Lieutenant(N) | Lt(N) | Lieut. |
| Sub-Lieutenant | SLt | Sub-Lieut. |
| Acting Sub-Lieutenant | A/SLt | (not abbreviated) |
| Naval Cadet | NCdt | (not abbreviated) |
| Chief Petty Officer, 1st Class | CPO 1 | (not abbreviated) |
| Chief Petty Officer, 2nd Class | CPO 2 | (not abbreviated) |
| Petty Officer, 1st Class | PO 1 | (not abbreviated) |
| Petty Officer, 2nd Class | PO 2 | (not abbreviated) |
| Master Seaman | MS | M.S. |
| Leading Seaman | LS | L.S. |
| Able Seaman | AB | A.B. |
| Ordinary Seaman | OS | O.S. |
In non-DND/CF writing, the plurals of these abbreviated titles are formed by adding s to the principal element:
- Gens.
- Maj.-Gens.
- Cols.
Note that at the Department of National Defence and within the Canadian Forces, the abbreviations for Retired and retired are Retd and retd (without a period).
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