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In many places, I've seen "w/" written instead of "with". At least, I think that one replaces the other. I couldn't find anywhere what is the origin of "w/".

Is this something in regular usage in the English language?

fev
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KWriter
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1 Answers1

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CyberDefinitions gives a plausible explanation:

Although its origin is contested, w/ has been used at least since the rise of the fast-food industry in the 1950s. As a form of shorthand to save time when writing down food orders, waiters replaced the words "with" and "without" with the abbreviations w/ and w/o .

Since that time, the use of w/ as an abbreviation of "with" has become much more widely used.

WikiHow gives detailed examples, explaining that

It appears over text, on social media, in handwritten notes, or even in casual communications at work like Slack messages.

Prowritingaid takes it further and adds that this abbreviation can be found in more formal contexts:

Many people will use w/ when they are taking notes, whether in school, in a meeting or conference, or somewhere else. Using shorthand like this makes note taking much faster.

It’s also common to see the abbreviation w/ in real estate or housing descriptions. Many descriptions of properties for sale or rent have limited characters, so they use abbreviations: “house w/ 2-car garage.”

You might see the abbreviation for with on official forms or tables of research data that have a limited number of characters. It’s also common in informal communication as well as quick business communications.

As an interesting fact, the site adds that

Note that the medical field does not use w/ as the abbreviation for with. Instead, they use a lowercase C with a line over it. This stems from the Latin word for with, “cum.”

fev
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    Really interesting. I must say that I never came across w/o. – KWriter Jan 18 '23 at 13:39
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    Matching Latin-based abbreviation for without is s with a line. – Andrew Lazarus Jan 18 '23 at 21:16
  • "lowercase C with a line over it, called an overstrike" Which is it? c with a line over it? Or an overstrike? – Rosie F Jan 19 '23 at 18:03
  • @RosieF Most sites describe it as with a line over it. I don't know why the site I am quoting calls it overstrike, I will omit it. – fev Jan 19 '23 at 18:07
  • @KWriter, interesting that you've never seen "w/o". My guess (which is why I'm not writing an answer) is that w/o came first, and people decided to start using w/ only later. My reasoning is that while there are few other one-letter-slash abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations with a slash are fairly common - for example, N/A, A/C, I/O - and at least some of those (N/A if nothing else) is older than the 1950s. – Juhasz Jan 19 '23 at 18:50
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    I'm not a native English speaker, and know that I've seen n/a (not applicable) and it is the only one that I've ever used :) I don't know (without searching for it) what is a/c. I guess i/o is input/output. – KWriter Jan 19 '23 at 19:12
  • @RosieF The lower-case c with a line above it: that's how I was taught to abbreviate 'with' in school for note-taking purposes. – Peter Jan 20 '23 at 14:23