What does PCI stand for? In business and online shopping, PCI stands for Payment Card Industry, and it almost always appears as part of PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. That standard sets the security rules any business must follow if it accepts, stores or sends credit and debit card numbers.
Outside the checkout world, PCI carries a pair of unrelated senses. Computer builders know PCI as Peripheral Component Interconnect, a type of expansion slot. Doctors and nurses use PCI for percutaneous coronary intervention, a procedure that opens blocked heart arteries. Surrounding words, like card, slot or artery, usually settle the question.
Quick facts
Most common meaning
Payment Card IndustryPCI DSS
Payment Card Industry Data Security StandardOther meanings
Peripheral Component Interconnect; percutaneous coronary interventionType
InitialismHow to say it
P C IUsed in
Retail, payments, IT, hospitals
What does PCI DSS stand for?
PCI DSS breaks down into two parts. PCI is the industry, payment cards. DSS stands for Data Security Standard. Together they name a set of security requirements created and managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, a group formed by the major card networks.
| Letters | Stands for |
|---|---|
| P | Payment |
| C | Card |
| I | Industry |
| D | Data |
| S | Security |
| S | Standard |
The standard is organized around 12 core requirements. They cover things like using firewalls, encrypting card data when it travels over networks, limiting who can see card numbers, testing systems and keeping a written security policy.
What does PCI stand for in each field?
| Field | Stands for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Payments and retail | Payment Card Industry | "Our checkout must be PCI compliant." |
| Computer hardware | Peripheral Component Interconnect | "Add a network card in a free PCI slot." |
| Medicine | Percutaneous coronary intervention | "The patient had a PCI with a stent." |
If the text mentions cards, merchants or compliance, it is the payment meaning. If it mentions motherboards or slots, it is the computer meaning. A hospital chart or a heart doctor's note points to the medical meaning.
What PCI compliance means for a business
Being PCI compliant means a business meets the standard's requirements for protecting cardholder data. A small coffee shop with a card reader and a large online store both fall under it, though the paperwork differs. Card networks group merchants into levels based on how many card transactions they handle each year, and bigger merchants face stricter checks, such as outside audits.
Message from a payment processor: "Please complete your annual PCI self assessment questionnaire." This is asking a small business to confirm, on a form, that it follows the card security rules.
Businesses that fail to protect card data may face fines from their bank or processor and lose the ability to take cards. For other payment terms, see POS and ACH.
PCI and PCIe in computers
In hardware, PCI was a standard slot on a computer's motherboard that let you add sound cards, network cards and other parts. It has largely been replaced by PCIe, PCI Express, which is much faster and uses a different slot shape. Today, when people talk about a graphics card slot or a fast storage drive, they nearly always mean PCIe.
Older PCI cards and newer PCIe cards do not fit each other's slots. If a parts list says PCIe, an old PCI card will not work there. Our tech acronyms hub covers many more hardware terms.
PCI in a hospital setting
In cardiology, PCI means percutaneous coronary intervention. Percutaneous means through the skin. A doctor guides a thin tube through a blood vessel to the heart, then uses a small balloon and often a stent to open a narrowed artery. Many people know it by the older name, angioplasty.
Saying and writing PCI
Say each letter: "P C I." Capitals only, no dots. It takes "a" rather than "an": "a PCI audit," "a PCI slot." Some people say "PCI DSS" as "P C I D S S," and in casual talk at work many just say "PCI" to mean the whole standard. See the famous acronyms section for more everyday letters.
Questions people ask
What does PCI stand for in credit card terms?
It stands for Payment Card Industry. In practice people use it as short for PCI DSS, the security standard for handling card data.
Is PCI DSS a law?
It is not a government law. It is an industry standard that card networks require through contracts with banks and merchants, though some states have their own data protection laws as well.
Who has to follow PCI DSS?
Any business that accepts, stores, processes or sends payment card data. That includes small shops, online stores and service providers that handle card data for others.
What is the difference between PCI and PCIe?
In computers, PCI is the older expansion slot, and PCIe, PCI Express, is its faster successor. They use different slots and are not swappable.
What does PCI mean in medicine?
It means percutaneous coronary intervention, a procedure that opens blocked heart arteries, usually with a balloon and a stent.