IV
Abbreviation with 5 meanings
| Stands for | Intravenous |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 5 |
| Categories | Medical, Science & Engineering, Business & Finance, Units & Measurements |
IV has five meanings. The most common are Intravenous (medication route) and Independent variable (psychology); it can also stand for Implied volatility, Instrumental variable and Intrinsic value.
Meanings of IV at a glance
| # | IV stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intravenous | Medical › Medication Route |
| 2 | Independent variable | Science & Engineering › Psychology |
| 3 | Implied volatility | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
| 4 | Instrumental variable | Units & Measurements › Statistics |
| 5 | Intrinsic value | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
1. Intravenous
Medical · Medication Route Abbreviations
Delivery of a drug or fluid directly into a vein, giving complete and immediate availability in the bloodstream. It can be a rapid push, an intermittent infusion over minutes to hours, or a continuous drip controlled by an infusion pump.
Example: Start NS at 125 mL/h IV and give ceftriaxone 1 g IV now.
Pronounced as the letters "I-V". IV access is usually a short peripheral catheter in the hand or forearm; irritating drugs and long courses use central lines such as PICCs. The Joint Commission banned "IU" (international unit) partly because it was misread as "IV". "An IV" also refers informally to the catheter or the bag of fluid itself.
2. Independent variable
Science & Engineering · Psychology Abbreviations
In an experiment, the factor that the researcher deliberately manipulates or groups participants by, to see whether it affects an outcome, such as the dose of a drug, the type of instructions or the amount of sleep.
Example: In the caffeine study, the IV was dose: 0, 100 or 200 mg.
The outcome measured is the dependent variable (DV). True experiments randomly assign participants to levels of the IV, allowing causal conclusions; in correlational studies, predictor variables are sometimes loosely called IVs. In medicine IV means intravenous.
3. Implied volatility
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations
Market's forecast of how much an underlying asset's price will move, derived from current option prices using a pricing model such as Black-Scholes. Higher IV makes options more expensive.
Example: IV on the stock's weekly options spiked to 120 percent ahead of the earnings release.
IV is quoted as an annualized standard deviation: an IV of 20 percent implies roughly a two-in-three chance that the price ends the year within about 20 percent of where it is now. "IV crush" is the sharp drop after an expected event such as earnings, which can make option buyers lose money even when they guess the direction correctly. The VIX measures IV on S&P 500 options.
4. Instrumental variable
Units & Measurements · Statistics Abbreviations
A variable used in econometrics to estimate a causal effect when a predictor is correlated with the error term: it must affect the outcome only through that predictor. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) is the usual estimation method.
Example: Using distance to the nearest college as an IV, the study estimated the earnings return to schooling.
A valid instrument must be relevant (strongly related to the treatment) and excludable (no other path to the outcome). Weak instruments produce biased estimates, and a first-stage F statistic above about 10 is a common rule of thumb. Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens shared the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences partly for work on IV methods.
5. Intrinsic value
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations
Two related investing meanings: for options, the amount by which an option is in the money, such as $5 for a $100-strike call when the stock trades at $105; for companies, an estimate of a business's true worth based on its future cash flows. Neither depends on market sentiment.
Example: With the stock at $105, the $100 call has $5 of IV and $2 of time value.
An option's price equals intrinsic value plus extrinsic (time) value, and out-of-the-money options have zero intrinsic value. In value investing, Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett describe buying stocks below intrinsic value with a "margin of safety." On an options chain, IV more often means implied volatility, so check the context.
Related abbreviations
More medication route abbreviations
- inj – Injection
- IO – Intraosseous
- IP – Intraperitoneal
- IT – Intrathecal
- IVP – Intravenous push
- IVPB – Intravenous piggyback
- NEB – Nebulizer, nebulized
- NG – Nasogastric
See all 41 medication route abbreviations →
More psychology abbreviations
- HPA – Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (axis)
- IAT – Implicit Association Test
- IQ – Intelligence quotient
- IRT – Item response theory
- LOC – Locus of control
- LTM – Long-term memory
- MBTI – Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
See all 62 psychology abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.