Shortenings in English language

          Shortenings are abbreviations in which the beginning or end of the word has been dropped. In some cases both the beginning and the end have been omitted. Examples include: 

shortening	original form
cello	violoncello
flu	influenza
ad	advertisement
blog	weblog
rhino	rhinoceros
telly	television
bike	bicycle

    In some cases, the shortening involves a slight spelling change, as with bike and telly.

        These shortenings are now an accepted part of the language. In fact some of the original, longer forms tend to be used only in formal or technical writing. It would sound rather odd, for example, to describe a person as suffering frominfluenza unless you were writing in a scientific context. 

            You do not need to use an apostrophe in shortenings to show that letters have been omitted.

           You should only use a capital letter if the original form also starts with a capital letter, for example: 

Med	Mediterranean
Brit	British (person)
Jag	Jaguar

               You do not need to use a full stop unless the shortening is one created specifically for use in writing, for example:

Dec.	December
Tue.	Tuesday
etc.	et cetera