There is western red cedar roofing, there is white cedar roofing, there is Alaskan yellow cypress roofing which is also referred to as Alaskan yellow cedar roofing. Alaskan yellow cypress roofing, the best by far, is more expensive than the red cedar and the white cedar.
Summing up: 1  An abbreviation is a shortening of a word or a phrase. 2  An acronym is an abbreviation that forms a word. 3  An initialism is an abbreviation that uses the first letter of each word in the phrase (thus, some but not all initialisms are acronyms).
A word formed from the initial letters of a name (for example, NATO, from North Atlantic Treaty Organization) or by combining initial letters of a series of words (radar, from radio detection and ranging). Adjective: acronymic.