Abbreviation
| Source | Initials | Words |
|---|---|---|
| English | CUT | Coordinated Universal Time |
| French | TUC | Temps Universel Coordonné |
| compromise | UTC | unofficial English: "Universal Time, Coordinated"; unofficial French: "Universel Temps Coordonné" |
The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC. This abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT (for "coordinated universal time"), while French speakers proposed TUC (for "temps universel coordonné"). The compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time (UT0, UT1, UT2, UT1R, etc.).
Read more about this topic: Coordinated Universal Time