"I18n" is an abbreviation for the word "internationalization". The term "i18n" is derived from its spelling as the letter "i" plus 18 letters plus the letter "n".
Technically, the term is not an acronym, as acronyms represent expressions that are derived from the first letters of words. (For example, "DBCS" is an acronym for "Double Byte Character Set".) The correct name for this type of abbreviation is numeronym- a number based word. Examples include "K9" for canine, and the French "K7", pronounced "K-sept" for the word cassette. Another example is "411" for the concept of "information".
The story goes as follows:
I+n1t2e3r4n5a6t7i8o9n10a11l12i13z14a15t16i17o18+n
Technically, the term is not an acronym, as acronyms represent expressions that are derived from the first letters of words. (For example, "DBCS" is an acronym for "Double Byte Character Set".) The correct name for this type of abbreviation is numeronym- a number based word. Examples include "K9" for canine, and the French "K7", pronounced "K-sept" for the word cassette. Another example is "411" for the concept of "information".
The story goes as follows:
A DEC employee named Jan Scherpenhuizen was given an email account of S12n by a system administrator, since his name was too long to be an account name. This approach to abbreviating long names was intended to be humorous and became generalized at DEC. The convention was applied to "internationalization" at DEC which was using the numeronym by 1985.Further info can be found at http://www.i18nguy.com/origini18n.html