This List of German abbreviations includes abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms found in the German language. Because German words can be famously long, use of abbreviation is particularly common. Even the language's shortest words are often abbreviated, such as the conjunction und (and) written just as "u." This article covers standard abbreviations in colloquial and official use. It does not include abbreviations that are important historically but no longer in common usage, such as k. u. k. for Imperial and Royal and OKW for Oberkommando der Wehrmacht.