What is the correct abbreviation for Doctor?

Dr or Dr. ?

Doctor comes from the Latin word Doctor. The word originates from the Latin verb docere which means to teach.

This week we are having a big debate about this one and we’re still not decided who won? There are multiple camps in this space.

Camp 1

Either Abbreviations Dr or Dr. can be used to designate a person who has doctorate-level degree.

Camp 2

Only Dr. is correct as it is an abbreviation. You should always use the full stop.

In the UK, the use of the full stop appears to be ok to use either Dr or Dr. However, in America the de facto is to always use the period / full stop — it’s Dr. in America!

Just for fun consider this: The plural of Dr. is Drs. or Dres. in some languages (German).

In British English, you don’t have to indicate an abbreviation with a full stop after the abbreviation, when the last letter is the same as the abbreviated word. You can use Dr Smith, because R is the last letter of Doctor. However, if he had a Phd. you have to use a full stop because the last letter is different from the entire word, doctorate.

The abbreviation of doctor is generally Dr in most of the Commonwealth whereas it is Dr. in North America.

Which abbreviation do you use and why?

Other articles you might find interesting are:

Medical Miscommunications using Machine Translation