Commonly used abbreviation for 'attention' or the telecommunications company AT&T. Also appears in legal and business contexts meaning 'at' or 'to the attention of.'
Abbreviation of 'attention' from Latin attentio, from attendere meaning 'to stretch toward.' The business use developed in the 20th century for directing correspondence.
The abbreviation 'att' demonstrates how digital communication has compressed language - from the full Latin 'attentio' to the abbreviated form we see in emails and texts. It's fascinating how a word meaning 'to stretch toward' became shortened to just three letters while retaining its directive power.
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