PT

Abbreviation with 17 meanings

PT
Stands for	Physical therapy
Meanings	17
Categories	Medical, Units & Measurements, Military, Geography & Places, Science & Engineering, Writing & Everyday, Sports, Business & Finance
Also written	Pt, pt, Pt., pt.

PT has 17 meanings. The most common are Physical therapy (rehabilitation) and Patient (medical documentation); it can also stand for Physical therapist, Prothrombin time, Pacific Time, Pint and Physical training, plus 10 more listed below.

Meanings of PT at a glance

#	PT stands for	Context
1	Physical therapy	Medical › Rehabilitation
2	Patient	Medical › Medical Documentation
3	Physical therapist	Medical › Healthcare Credential
4	Prothrombin time	Medical › Laboratory Test
5	Pacific Time	Units & Measurements › Time Zone
6	Pint	Units & Measurements › US Customary and Imperial Unit
7	Physical training	Military › Military Term
8	Point	Geography & Places › Geographic Feature
9	Portugal	Geography & Places › Country Code
10	Platinum	Science & Engineering › Chemical Element
11	Part-time	Writing & Everyday › Classified Ad
12	Personal trainer	Sports › Fitness and Exercise
13	Posterior tibial (artery or pulse)	Medical › Anatomy
14	Perseroan Terbatas (limited liability company)	Business & Finance › Company Type
15	Price target	Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing
16	Part	Writing & Everyday › Citation and Bibliography
17	Patrol torpedo boat	Military › Naval Ship

1. Physical therapy

Medical · Rehabilitation Abbreviations

Therapy service that improves movement, strength, balance and function after injury, surgery or illness, and treats pain using exercise, manual therapy and education. It is called physiotherapy in many countries.

Example: PT 3x/week x 6 weeks for post-op knee rehab.

PT treatment can be accessed directly without referral in all US states to some degree, though insurers may require referrals. In laboratory medicine PT means prothrombin time, and in charting lowercase "pt" means patient. Physiotherapy is the term used in the UK, Canada and Australia.

2. Patient (Pt)

Medical · Medical Documentation Abbreviations

The person receiving care, written "pt" or "Pt" throughout nursing notes, orders and messages to save time. It is one of the most frequently used abbreviations in clinical records.

Example: Pt resting comfortably, call bell within reach, family at bedside.

Lowercase "pt" usually means patient, while capital PT more often means physical therapy or prothrombin time, so capitalization helps. Notes written for patients to read, now common through online portals, are better with the word in full. Pts is the plural.

3. Physical therapist

Medical · Healthcare Credential Abbreviations

Licensed clinician who examines and treats movement problems caused by injury, surgery, illness or disability using exercise, manual therapy and education. Entry requires a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree and passing the National Physical Therapy Exam.

Example: Casey Nguyen, PT, DPT, OCS, orthopedic outpatient clinic.

Licensure is granted by state boards; the exam is administered by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy. All US states allow some form of direct access to PTs without a physician referral, though insurer rules vary. In laboratory medicine PT means prothrombin time.

4. Prothrombin time

Medical · Laboratory Test Abbreviations

Clotting test measuring how many seconds plasma takes to clot after tissue factor and calcium are added, typically about 11 to 13.5 seconds. It assesses the extrinsic and common pathways (factors VII, X, V, II and fibrinogen) and is prolonged by warfarin, liver disease and vitamin K deficiency.

Example: PT 18.2 seconds with INR 1.7; giving vitamin K before the liver biopsy.

On a lab report PT means prothrombin time; the same letters also stand for physical therapy and simply "patient" in chart notes, so accompanying seconds or an INR identify the lab test. Because raw PT results vary with the thromboplastin reagent, warfarin dosing relies on the INR. Samples go into a light-blue citrate tube that must be filled to the line.

5. Pacific Time

Units & Measurements · Time Zone Abbreviations

Generic label for the US and Canadian Pacific Time Zone, covering PST (UTC−8) and PDT (UTC−7). Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas and Vancouver use it, and Silicon Valley product launches are usually timed in PT.

Example: The keynote streams live at 10 a.m. PT on the company's website.

Tech companies and game studios publish release times in PT, so international users must convert: 10 a.m. PT is 17:00 UTC in summer and 18:00 UTC in winter. Mexico's Baja California follows the same clock. California, Oregon and Washington have backed permanent daylight time, a change that would need approval from Congress.

6. Pint (pt)

Units & Measurements · US Customary and Imperial Unit Abbreviations

Liquid measure equal to half a quart: 16 US fluid ounces (about 473 mL) in the United States and 20 imperial fluid ounces (about 568 mL) in the UK and Ireland. A separate US dry pint of about 551 mL is used for berries and produce.

Example: A pt of craft beer at the taproom costs $8 during happy hour.

The UK requires draught beer and cider to be sold in imperial pints, a rule kept after metrication, and milk is still sold in pint multiples. American "pint" glasses often hold 16 fl oz only when filled to the brim. The saying "a pint's a pound the world around" works only roughly, and only for water in US units.

7. Physical training

Military · Military Term Abbreviations

Daily or regular group exercise conducted by military units to build fitness for combat, typically early in the morning and including runs, calisthenics, strength work and ruck marches.

Example: PT formation is at 0630 in front of the barracks; uniform is shorts and reflective belt.

Morning PT is a near-universal feature of military life, and each service issues a PT uniform. Units are inspected for fitness standards through periodic tests. In medicine PT means physical therapy, and in time zones it means Pacific Time.

8. Point (Pt.)

Geography & Places · Geographic Feature Abbreviations

Used for headlands and coastal places, as in Pt. Reyes or Pt. Barrow, and for towns such as Pt. Pleasant; USPS uses PT for Point in addresses.

Example: Fog rolled in over the Pt. Reyes lighthouse by midafternoon.

On nautical charts Pt. labels a tapering headland, and Pte. is the French form (Pointe). Pt also means pint, platinum, patient and part, so context matters.

9. Portugal

Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations

Portugal, capital Lisbon, alpha-3 PRT, uses PT for its .pt domain and IBANs. European Portuguese is tagged pt-PT, to distinguish it from Brazilian Portuguese, pt-BR.

Example: Portuguese IBANs begin with PT and contain 25 characters.

Sports bodies use POR. Portugal's alliance with England, dating to 1386, is the oldest in force. PT also means physical therapy.

10. Platinum (Pt)

Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations

A dense, silvery precious metal, platinum (element 78) is valued for resisting corrosion and for catalyzing reactions. Catalytic converters for diesel vehicles, jewelry and investment bars account for most demand; it also serves in fuel cells, laboratory electrodes, thermocouples and the cancer drug cisplatin. South Africa produces most of the world's supply.

Example: A 950 hallmark indicates the ring is 95% Pt, the usual standard for platinum jewelry.

Pre-Columbian peoples of present-day Ecuador and Colombia worked platinum-gold alloys, and Spanish colonists called the metal platina, "little silver," dismissing it as a nuisance in gold mining. Antonio de Ulloa described it in a 1748 account. Platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and iridium together make up the platinum-group metals, often shortened to PGMs.

11. Part-time

Writing & Everyday · Classified Ad Abbreviations · also used in business

Indicates a part-time position in job ads, usually fewer than 30 to 35 hours a week, often with flexible or limited schedules.

Example: PT barista, mornings and weekends, 20-25 hours a week, tips included.

Also written P/T. Part-time employees may not qualify for benefits, depending on employer policy and local law. In healthcare PT means physical therapy, and in time zones PT means Pacific Time.

12. Personal trainer

Sports · Fitness and Exercise Abbreviations

Fitness professional who designs workouts and coaches clients one-on-one or in small groups. Gyms advertise PT sessions, often sold in packages.

Example: First PT session is free with a new membership.

Common US certifications include those from NASM, ACE, ACSM and NSCA. British gyms frequently use PT as a job title. In medicine PT usually means physical therapy, a licensed health profession, and in jobs part-time.

13. Posterior tibial (artery or pulse)

Medical · Anatomy Abbreviations

Artery that runs down the back of the calf and passes behind the medial malleolus of the ankle, where its pulse is felt. Checking the PT and dorsalis pedis pulses is part of every vascular and diabetic foot exam.

Example: Pulses: DP 2+ bilaterally, PT 1+ on the right and absent on the left.

Pulses are graded from 0 (absent) to 3+ or 4+ (bounding) depending on the scale used. When a pulse cannot be felt, a handheld Doppler is used and the ankle-brachial index measured. On a lab report PT means prothrombin time, and in therapy notes physical therapy.

14. Perseroan Terbatas (limited liability company)

Business & Finance · Company Type Abbreviations

Indonesian limited liability company, the main corporate form in Indonesia, written as a prefix before the company name rather than after it. Foreign-owned versions are known as PT PMA.

Example: PT Bank Central Asia Tbk is one of Indonesia's largest listed companies.

Omnibus-law reforms in 2020 let founders set the capital of an ordinary PT by agreement, though foreign-investment PT PMAs face much higher investment requirements. A listed PT adds "Tbk" after the name, and state-owned companies add "(Persero)."

15. Price target

Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations

Analyst's projected price for a stock, usually over the next 12 months, published with a buy, hold or sell rating. Changes in price targets by major banks are reported in financial news and can move a stock.

Example: Analysts at the bank raised their PT to $310 from $260, citing faster cloud growth.

Price targets are typically derived from valuation multiples or discounted cash flow models. Academic studies have found that targets tend to be optimistic on average. In headlines and trading chat, "PT raised" or "PT cut" is common shorthand.

16. Part (pt.)

Writing & Everyday · Citation and Bibliography Abbreviations

Identifies a numbered part of a book, report, standard or regulation in citations, as in "pt. 3." Long works are often grouped into parts, each containing several chapters.

Example: Federal food-labeling rules are found in pt. 101 of title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Chicago and MLA use pt., and legal citations use it too, as in "21 C.F.R. pt. 101." The plural is pts. In other settings pt. abbreviates point, pint or patient, so the context decides which is meant.

17. Patrol torpedo boat

Military · Naval Ship Abbreviations

Small, fast US Navy torpedo boat of World War II, typically 70 to 80 feet long, used to attack enemy ships and barges, especially in the Pacific.

Example: John F. Kennedy commanded PT-109 when a Japanese destroyer rammed it in 1943.

Kennedy's rescue of his crew after the sinking of PT-109 became central to his political image. PT boats were made mostly of plywood and powered by Packard engines. In everyday military usage, PT means physical training.

More rehabilitation abbreviations

PM&R – Physical medicine and rehabilitation
PNF – Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation
PRE – Progressive resistive exercise
PROM – Passive range of motion
PWB – Partial weight bearing
QC – Quad cane
RICE – Rest, ice, compression, elevation
ROM – Range of motion

See all 98 rehabilitation abbreviations →

PT