Professor Abbreviation: Prof.

What is the abbreviation for professor?

Prof. keeps the opening four letters, P R O F, then closes with a dot that signals the rest of the word was cut. American writers keep that dot. Much British writing drops it, yet in the United States Prof. with the period is the norm.

Learn more about the rank words themselves on the assistant and associate abbreviation pages.

When to use Prof. and when to spell it out

• Use Prof. before a full name in lists, directories, schedules and addresses: Prof. Lena Ortiz.
• Spell it out before a last name alone: Professor Ortiz, not Prof. Ortiz, in most careful writing.
• Spell it out in direct speech and in an email greeting: "Dear Professor Ortiz."
• Lowercase it when it is a job description, not a title: "She is a professor of biology."
• Spell it out in essays and news style, which tend to avoid the short form.

Professor abbreviation in email and letters

When you write to a teacher at a college, the safest greeting is the full title and last name. Shortening it can look rushed.

1. Open with "Dear Professor Kim," in full.
2. If you know the person has a doctorate and prefers it, "Dear Dr. Kim" is also correct.
3. Do not combine titles: avoid "Prof. Dr. Kim" in American usage.
4. On a mailed envelope, "Prof. Jamie Kim, Department of History" saves space and reads well.
5. Never use "prof" as a greeting; keep the slang for talking with classmates.

The difference between Prof. and Dr. matters. Professor is a job title at a college. Dr. marks a degree such as a PhD or a medical degree. Many professors hold both, and either title is polite.

Capital letters and plurals

Capitalize Prof. because it is always used as a title before a name. The full word Professor also gets a capital when it sits directly ahead of someone's name, and lowercase it after a name or on its own: "Jamie Kim, professor of history."

For plurals, add s before the period: Profs. The full plural is professors, with no apostrophe. The possessive is Professor Kim's office, or the professors' lounge for a shared room.

Sample sentences

• "Office hours with Prof. Rita Nguyen are on Tuesdays."
• "Professor Nguyen moved the quiz to Friday."
• "Profs. Nguyen and Adams will judge the science fair."
• "He became an associate professor last spring."
• "My chem prof posts slides after every lecture." (casual)

For other titles and everyday shortened words, see the common abbreviations hub plus the walkthrough on how to abbreviate titles and other words safely.