BT
Abbreviation with 7 meanings
| Stands for | Bluetooth |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 7 |
| Categories | Technology & Computing, Geography & Places, Business & Finance, Medical, Writing & Everyday |
| Also written | Bt. |
BT has seven meanings. The most common are Bluetooth (consumer electronics) and British Telecom (BT Group) (telecom); it can also stand for Bhutan, BitTorrent, Balance transfer, Bedtime and Baronet.
Meanings of BT at a glance
| # | BT stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bluetooth | Technology & Computing › Consumer Electronics |
| 2 | British Telecom (BT Group) | Technology & Computing › Telecom |
| 3 | Bhutan | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 4 | BitTorrent | Technology & Computing › Software |
| 5 | Balance transfer | Business & Finance › Personal Finance |
| 6 | Bedtime | Medical › Prescription |
| 7 | Baronet | Writing & Everyday › Title and Honorific |
1. Bluetooth
Technology & Computing · Consumer Electronics Abbreviations
Short-range wireless technology for connecting headphones, speakers, keyboards, mice, watches, cars and other devices, operating in the 2.4 GHz band over typically about 10 meters.
Example: Turn on BT and pair the earbuds by holding the case button for three seconds.
Engineers at Ericsson, led by Jaap Haartsen, developed it in the 1990s, and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group formed in 1998. Intel's Jim Kardach suggested the name after Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, a 10th-century Danish king who united warring tribes, as the technology would unite devices; the logo combines the runes for his initials. Bluetooth 6.0 was released in 2024. BT also stands for the UK telecom company BT.
2. British Telecom (BT Group)
Technology & Computing · Telecom Abbreviations
Largest telecommunications company in the United Kingdom, providing broadband, landline, mobile and TV services, and owner of Openreach, which runs much of the country's phone and broadband cable network, and the mobile operator EE.
Example: Our broadband is with BT, but Openreach sent the engineer to fix the line.
British Telecom was separated from the Post Office in the early 1980s and privatized in 1984, one of the largest share sales of its time. Openreach was created in 2006 to give rival providers equal access to the network and became a legally separate company in 2018. BT bought EE in 2016 for about 12.5 billion pounds. In tech, BT also abbreviates Bluetooth.
3. Bhutan
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom between China and India, measures progress by Gross National Happiness and charges visitors a daily sustainable development fee. Thimphu is the capital and BTN the alpha-3 code.
Example: Tour operators must register all visitors entering BT through Paro airport.
Bhutan was one of the last countries to allow television, in 1999. BT also abbreviates British Telecom and Bluetooth.
4. BitTorrent
Technology & Computing · Software Abbreviations
Peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol that splits files into small pieces downloaded simultaneously from many users, spreading bandwidth costs among them. It distributes Linux ISOs, game patches and large datasets, and is also widely used for piracy.
Example: The Linux distribution offers a BT download that is often faster than the direct mirror.
Bram Cohen released the protocol in 2001. Clients find peers through .torrent files, magnet links, trackers and a distributed hash table. Using BitTorrent is legal; sharing copyrighted material without permission is not, and rights holders monitor public swarms. Outside software, BT usually means Bluetooth or the UK telecom company BT.
5. Balance transfer
Business & Finance · Personal Finance Abbreviations
Moving existing credit card debt to another card, typically to take advantage of a 0% or low introductory APR. Most issuers charge a balance transfer fee, commonly 3% to 5% of the amount moved.
Example: I did a BT of $6,000 to a card with 18 months at 0%, and the fee came to $180.
Issuers generally do not allow transfers between two cards from the same bank. The promotional rate often requires the transfer within a set window after the account opens, and new purchases may accrue interest at the regular rate. Paying off the full amount before the promotion ends is the key to saving money.
6. Bedtime
Medical · Prescription Abbreviations
Informal shorthand for the hour of sleep that earlier editions of the ISMP error-prone list included because "BT" has been misread as "BID", doubling the number of doses a patient receives.
Example: Melatonin 3 mg PO at BT was entered in error as BID.
Writing "bedtime" in full is the recommended practice. BT is not a standard Latin abbreviation; it grew up as an English shortcut alongside HS and QHS, both of which have their own error-prone warnings. The safest order says "nightly at bedtime".
7. Baronet (Bt.)
Writing & Everyday · Title and Honorific Abbreviations
Placed after the name of the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary British title that carries the prefix "Sir" but ranks below the peerage. It distinguishes baronets from knights, whose titles are not inherited.
Example: Sir Edward Langley, Bt., inherited the title and the family estate from his father in 1987.
An older form is Bart. James I created the baronetage in 1611 as a way to raise money for the Crown. Baronets are not peers and never sat in the House of Lords by right of the title. A baronet's wife is styled "Lady" followed by the surname.
Related abbreviations
More consumer electronics abbreviations
- AV – Audio-visual
- AVR – Audio/video receiver
- BD – Blu-ray Disc
- BLE – Bluetooth Low Energy
- CCTV – Closed-circuit television
- CD – Compact Disc
- CEC – Consumer Electronics Control
- CES – Consumer Electronics Show
See all 104 consumer electronics abbreviations →
More telecom abbreviations
- AM – Amplitude modulation
- AMPS – Advanced Mobile Phone System
- APN – Access Point Name
- ARPU – Average revenue per user
- BTS – Base transceiver station
- CBRS – Citizens Broadband Radio Service
- CDMA – Code-division multiple access
- CLI – Calling line identification
See all 114 telecom abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.