NP
Abbreviation with 10 meanings
| Stands for | Nurse practitioner |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 10 |
| Categories | Medical, Texting & Internet Slang, Geography & Places, Science & Engineering, Law & Legal, Writing & Everyday |
| Also written | N.P., n.p., Np |
NP has ten meanings. The most common are Nurse practitioner (healthcare credential) and No problem (texting and chat); it can also stand for National Park, Nepal, Neptunium, Notary public and Now playing, plus 3 more listed below.
Meanings of NP at a glance
| # | NP stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nurse practitioner | Medical › Healthcare Credential |
| 2 | No problem | Texting & Internet Slang › Texting and Chat |
| 3 | National Park | Geography & Places › Geographic Feature |
| 4 | Nepal | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 5 | Neptunium | Science & Engineering › Chemical Element |
| 6 | Notary public | Law & Legal › Legal Profession |
| 7 | Now playing | Texting & Internet Slang › Social Media |
| 8 | No place (of publication) | Writing & Everyday › Citation and Bibliography |
| 9 | No publisher | Writing & Everyday › Citation and Bibliography |
| 10 | Noun phrase | Writing & Everyday › Grammar and Dictionary |
1. Nurse practitioner
Medical · Healthcare Credential Abbreviations
Advanced practice registered nurse with graduate education who diagnoses and treats illness, orders tests and prescribes medications. NPs complete a master's or doctoral program, pass a national certification exam and obtain a state license.
Example: New patient visits available with our NP this week for annual physicals and chronic care.
All US states allow NPs to prescribe, and more than half grant full practice authority without required physician oversight. NPs certify in a population focus such as family, adult-gerontology, pediatrics, women's health, neonatal or psychiatric-mental health. The first NP program began at the University of Colorado in 1965.
2. No problem
Texting & Internet Slang · Texting and Chat Abbreviations
Casual reply to "thanks," meaning the favor was no trouble. Also used to accept a request, as in "can you cover my shift?" / "np."
Example: Np, happy to drive you to the airport Saturday.
Interchangeable with "no prob" and "nw" (no worries). Widely accepted in informal work chat. On social media "np" also means "now playing" before a song title, so a song name after it signals that sense.
3. National Park
Geography & Places · Geographic Feature Abbreviations
Used on maps and signs for a national park, a protected area managed for conservation and public enjoyment, as in Yellowstone NP, the world's first national park, established in 1872.
Example: Campsites in Yosemite NP sell out within minutes of release.
The US National Park Service, created in 1916, manages more than 400 units, of which 63 carry the national park title. NP also abbreviates nurse practitioner and is Nepal's ISO code.
4. Nepal
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Nepal, capital Kathmandu, alpha-3 NPL, contains eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Everest on its border with China, and has the only non-rectangular national flag.
Example: Trekking permits for the Annapurna Circuit in NP are issued in Kathmandu and Pokhara.
Nepal Standard Time is UTC+5:45, one of the few time zones offset by 45 minutes. NP also means nurse practitioner and national park.
5. Neptunium (Np)
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
Neptunium (element 93) was the first transuranium element ever made. Neptunium-237, a by-product of nuclear reactors, is irradiated to produce plutonium-238 for spacecraft power sources and is used in some neutron detectors; minute traces occur naturally in uranium ores.
Example: Irradiating Np-237 targets in a research reactor yields plutonium-238 for deep-space power systems.
Edwin McMillan and Philip Abelson created neptunium in 1940 at Berkeley by bombarding uranium with neutrons. Because uranium had been named after Uranus, they named the next element after Neptune, the next planet out; plutonium followed the same logic. McMillan shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Glenn Seaborg for discoveries in transuranium chemistry.
6. Notary public (N.P.)
Law & Legal · Legal Profession Abbreviations
Public officer commissioned by a state to witness signatures, verify identity, administer oaths and take acknowledgments on documents such as deeds, affidavits and powers of attorney. US notaries are not lawyers and generally may not give legal advice.
Example: The affidavit is signed, sworn and stamped by the N.P. with her commission expiration date.
Notaries are appointed by state governments for fixed terms and must keep a journal of notarial acts in many states. Most states now allow remote online notarization by video. In civil-law countries notaries are highly trained lawyers who draft and authenticate contracts, so "notario" advertising in the US can mislead immigrants.
7. Now playing
Texting & Internet Slang · Social Media Abbreviations
Hashtag or prefix indicating what song, album or podcast the poster is currently listening to, as in "#np Fleetwood Mac - Dreams." Common on Twitter, Last.fm and Discord.
Example: NP: the new Taylor Swift album on repeat for the third time today.
Music-sharing posts were a staple of early Twitter, and services like Last.fm automated them. Discord shows "Listening to Spotify" status for the same purpose. In everyday chat np more often means "no problem," which context distinguishes.
8. No place (of publication) (n.p.)
Writing & Everyday · Citation and Bibliography Abbreviations
Replaces the place of publication in a citation when a book or document does not name one. Chicago and older MLA styles use it, often alongside other "n." abbreviations.
Example: Pamphlet on temperance, n.p., 1874, held in the state historical society's collection.
Chicago uses "n.p." for both "no place" and "no publisher," so its position in the entry shows which is meant. MLA 9 no longer asks for the place of publication at all, so the issue rarely arises in MLA papers. Library catalogers traditionally used the Latin s.l. (sine loco).
9. No publisher (n.p.)
Writing & Everyday · Citation and Bibliography Abbreviations
Indicates that a work's publisher is not identified, used in the publisher slot of a citation. It is common with self-published pamphlets, family histories and ephemera.
Example: Chicago: n.p., 1912. The pamphlet names no printer or publisher anywhere on its cover.
In Chicago style, "n.p." after the colon in the place-publisher slot means no publisher, while before the colon it means no place. MLA 7 used "N.p." for a missing publisher and "n. pag." for a source without page numbers. Catalogers used the Latin s.n. (sine nomine).
10. Noun phrase
Writing & Everyday · Grammar and Dictionary Abbreviations
Denotes a phrase built around a noun or pronoun, including any determiners and modifiers, such as "the old wooden bridge." Syntax textbooks and parsing software use NP to label constituents in sentence trees.
Example: In "The tall woman left," the NP "the tall woman" is the subject of the sentence.
Phrase-structure grammars break sentences into constituents such as NP, VP (verb phrase) and PP (prepositional phrase). Language-processing tools perform "NP chunking" to extract noun phrases from text. Some modern theories analyze these phrases as determiner phrases (DPs). Elsewhere NP means nurse practitioner.
Related abbreviations
More healthcare credential abbreviations
- MSW – Master of Social Work
- NCLEX – National Council Licensure Examination
- NE-BC – Nurse Executive-Board Certified
- NNP – Neonatal nurse practitioner
- NREMT – National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians
- NRP – Nationally Registered Paramedic
- OCN – Oncology Certified Nurse
- OD – Doctor of Optometry
See all 122 healthcare credential abbreviations →
More texting and chat abbreviations
- NE1 – Anyone
- NM – Never mind
- NMU – Not much, you?
- NOYB – None of your business
- NTS – Note to self
- NTY – No thank you
- NVM – Never mind
- NW – No worries
See all 215 texting and chat abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.