One may wonder how the short form, "ISO" applies for the International Organization for Standardization. Shouldn't the acronym be "IOS"? Yes, if it were an acronym – which it is not. ISO is derived from the Greek word ' isos ' , meaning "equal". From "equal" to "standard", the line of thinking led to the choice of "ISO" as the name of the organization.
This also avoids the plethora of acronyms that will result from the translation of "International Organization for Standardization" into different national languages, e.g. IOS in English, OIN in French (from Organisation Internationale de Normalisation) etc. By choosing ISO, the short form of the Organization's name always remains as ISO whatever the country.
