Ms

When you're discussing MS Office, MS Windows, or the merits of MS vs. Apple, MS stands for Microsoft. Primarily, techies use this abbreviation, when discussing Microsoft products or policies with other technically-literate people.

Most often, techies prepend MS to a specific Microsoft program, such as MS Word or MS Visual Studio (MSVS), so they don't have to write out Microsoft when referring to the program. However, in technically-minded forums, users may use MS to refer to Microsoft as a whole, since they know other users likely understand what MS stands for.

Ms is a common abbreviation for "Miss," a prefix that identifies a person as a woman but does not define her marital status (like Mrs). It is typically followed by a period, but not always.

You may see Ms online and in person preceding a woman's full name or first or last name. For example, you might refer to your teacher as "Ms Johnson" in an email. Or, a person may message you online or in a text, referring to you as "Ms," as in, "Excuse me, Ms, are you free to talk?"

MS is an acronym for "middle school," which is where students get their lower, or junior, secondary education. The acronym is typically used online when typing to save on space and keystrokes.

In the United States, kids enter into middle, or junior high, school (grades 6 to 8 or 7 to 9) after they receive their primary education in elementary school. Middle school is the weirdest stage of school for many students because of puberty and all the awkwardness that follows. It usually continues on to high school (grades 9 to 12 or 10 to 12) where students receive their secondary education.