Laser looks like an ordinary word, but it is in fact an acronym assembled from the initials of a long phrase. Spelled out in full, it is Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation — the amplification of light through the stimulated emission of radiation. In 1960, when a device that focused light into a single, intensely powerful beam first operated, its name was born from the opening letters (L-A-S-E-R) of the phrase describing how it worked. Reading a string of initials as though it were a single word is what we call an acronym. Laser slips so naturally into speech that surprisingly few people realize it is an abbreviation at all.