SUV
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Sport utility vehicle |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Transportation & Travel, Medical |
SUV has two meanings. It stands for Sport utility vehicle (automotive) or Standardized uptake value (medical imaging).
Meanings of SUV at a glance
| # | SUV stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sport utility vehicle | Transportation & Travel › Automotive |
| 2 | Standardized uptake value | Medical › Medical Imaging |
1. Sport utility vehicle
Transportation & Travel · Automotive Abbreviations
Tall passenger vehicle with raised ground clearance, a high seating position and often available AWD or 4WD, combining car-like comfort with cargo space. SUVs now account for around half of new car sales worldwide and the majority of US sales.
Example: We traded the minivan for a three-row SUV with enough room for the dog and the hockey bags.
The term spread in the 1980s; the 1984 Jeep Cherokee (XJ) is often called the first modern compact SUV. Traditional SUVs use body-on-frame truck construction, while most new models are car-based crossovers. US fuel-economy rules classed SUVs as light trucks with looser standards, which helped fuel their boom. Critics point to their weight, emissions and danger to pedestrians. Pronounced as letters, though "suv" as a word is occasionally heard.
2. Standardized uptake value
Medical · Medical Imaging Abbreviations
Semi-quantitative PET measure comparing tracer concentration in a region with the injected dose divided by body weight, so uniform distribution would give an SUV of 1. Reports usually quote the maximum in a lesion (SUVmax) to describe how avid it is and to track response to treatment.
Example: Left lung mass SUVmax 14.2, previously 18.6; partial metabolic response.
Values shift with blood glucose, time from injection to scan, scanner model and reconstruction settings, so comparisons are most reliable on the same scanner and protocol. Older literature used an SUV above 2.5 to suggest malignancy in lung nodules, but no single cutoff is dependable. In everyday English, SUV means sport utility vehicle.
Related abbreviations
More automotive abbreviations
- SRS – Supplemental restraint system
- SRT – Street and Racing Technology
- SS – Super Sport
- SULEV – Super ultra-low emission vehicle
- SWB – Short wheelbase
- TCM – Transmission control module
- TCS – Traction control system
- TDI – Turbocharged direct injection
See all 116 automotive abbreviations →
More medical imaging abbreviations
- PI-RADS – Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System
- POCUS – Point-of-care ultrasound
- SPECT – Single-photon emission computed tomography
- STIR – Short tau inversion recovery
- Tc-99m – Technetium-99m
- TVUS – Transvaginal ultrasound
- US – Ultrasound
- USG – Ultrasonography
See all 58 medical imaging abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.