POS
Abbreviation with 8 meanings
| Stands for | Point of sale |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 8 |
| Categories | Business & Finance, Medical, Technology & Computing, Texting & Internet Slang, Writing & Everyday, Law & Legal |
| Also written | /pos, PoS |
POS has eight meanings. The most common are Point of sale (e-commerce & retail) and Point of service (plan) (health insurance); it can also stand for Proof of stake, Piece of s***, Part of speech, Proof of service and Parent over shoulder, plus 1 more listed below.
Meanings of POS at a glance
| # | POS stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Point of sale | Business & Finance › E-commerce & Retail |
| 2 | Point of service (plan) | Medical › Health Insurance |
| 3 | Proof of stake | Technology & Computing › Cryptocurrency & Blockchain |
| 4 | Piece of s*** | Texting & Internet Slang › Texting and Chat |
| 5 | Part of speech | Writing & Everyday › Grammar and Dictionary |
| 6 | Proof of service | Law & Legal › Litigation |
| 7 | Parent over shoulder | Texting & Internet Slang › Texting and Chat |
| 8 | Positive connotation (tone indicator) | Texting & Internet Slang › Social Media |
1. Point of sale
Business & Finance · E-commerce & Retail Abbreviations
Place and moment where a retail transaction is completed, and the hardware and software that handle it, including the register or tablet, card terminal, barcode scanner, receipt printer and the system that records sales and updates inventory.
Example: The new POS lets servers take orders and payments at the table on a handheld device.
Modern cloud POS systems, such as Square, Toast, Lightspeed and Shopify POS, combine payments with inventory, staff and customer management. "POS data" from retailers' scanners is a key source of sales information for brands. Marketers also use POS for in-store promotional materials, and in informal speech the letters have unrelated slang meanings.
2. Point of service (plan)
Medical · Health Insurance Abbreviations
Hybrid managed care plan combining HMO and PPO features: members choose a primary care physician and need referrals, but can go out of network at higher cost. The member decides at the "point of service", each time care is needed, whether to stay in network.
Example: With the POS plan, the out-of-network surgeon is covered at 50% after the deductible.
POS plans make up a small share of employer enrollment. Out-of-network claims often require the member to pay upfront and submit claims, and out-of-network deductibles are usually separate and higher. In retail POS means point of sale.
3. Proof of stake (PoS)
Technology & Computing · Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Abbreviations
A consensus mechanism in which validators lock up, or "stake", the network's coins as collateral for the right to propose and confirm blocks, earning rewards for honest behavior and losing part of their stake ("slashing") for cheating. Ethereum, Cardano and Solana use PoS.
Example: Since switching to PoS, Ethereum is secured by validators staking 32 ETH each rather than by miners.
Peercoin introduced the first proof-of-stake system in 2012. It uses far less energy than proof of work, but critics argue it favors those who already hold the most coins, and staking services run by exchanges have drawn regulatory attention. In retail, POS means point of sale, and in linguistics POS tagging labels parts of speech; context separates them.
4. Piece of s***
Texting & Internet Slang · Texting and Chat Abbreviations
Crude insult for a person or object considered worthless, as in "this car is a pos." Used in texts, reviews and forums when venting about broken products or bad behavior.
Example: My laptop is a pos, it crashed three times today.
In retail and business, POS far more often means "point of sale," so a "POS system" is a checkout terminal, not an insult. Vulgar and not for professional settings; aimed at a person, it is a serious insult.
5. Part of speech
Writing & Everyday · Grammar and Dictionary Abbreviations · also used in technology
Refers to the grammatical category of a word, such as noun, verb, adjective or adverb. Dictionaries label each entry's POS, and language-processing software performs POS tagging to assign categories automatically.
Example: The tagger assigned each word a POS, correctly marking "book" as a verb in "Book a table for two."
Traditional grammar recognizes eight parts of speech, a scheme inherited from Greek and Latin grammarians such as Dionysius Thrax. Corpus projects use larger tag sets; the Penn Treebank set, for example, has 36 part-of-speech tags. In retail, POS means point of sale, a far more common meaning outside linguistics.
6. Proof of service
Law & Legal · Litigation Abbreviations
Document filed with the court showing that a summons, complaint, motion or other paper was delivered to a party, stating who served it and when, where and how. Courts require it before granting relief against a party who has not appeared.
Example: Please file the POS for the summons today so we can request entry of default next week.
Used especially in California, where Judicial Council form POS-010 is the standard proof of service of summons. Other states call it a return of service, affidavit of service or certificate of service. Defective service can void a default judgment. Outside law, POS usually means point of sale.
7. Parent over shoulder
Texting & Internet Slang · Texting and Chat Abbreviations
Warning that a parent is watching the screen, used by teens to signal friends to drop sensitive topics or change the subject.
Example: Pos, change the subject, my mom's right behind me.
A staple of lists that help parents decode teen slang, along with PAW (parents are watching). Rarely used today, since most teens message on phones with private apps rather than shared family computers.
8. Positive connotation (tone indicator) (/pos)
Texting & Internet Slang · Social Media Abbreviations
Tone tag showing that a word which could sound negative is meant positively, as in calling an outfit "insane" or a song "illegal."
Example: That outfit is absolutely insane /pos, where did you get it?
Paired with /neg (negative connotation), it is one of the less common tone indicators. Helpful with slang where words like "sick," "unhinged" or "feral" are used as compliments. Rarely seen outside Tumblr and Discord.
Related abbreviations
More e-commerce & retail abbreviations
- PL – Private label
- PLP – Product listing page
- PLU – Price look-up code
- POD – Print on demand
- PSP – Payment service provider
- PWP – Purchase with purchase
- ROPO – Research online, purchase offline
- RPV – Revenue per visitor
See all 75 e-commerce & retail abbreviations →
More health insurance abbreviations
- PDP – Prescription drug plan (Medicare Part D)
- PHI – Protected health information
- PIP – Personal injury protection
- PMPM – Per member per month
- PPO – Preferred provider organization
- QHP – Qualified health plan
- QMB – Qualified Medicare Beneficiary
- QSEHRA – Qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement
See all 107 health insurance abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.