VI
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | U.S. Virgin Islands |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Geography & Places, Writing & Everyday |
| Also written | vi. |
VI has two meanings. It stands for U.S. Virgin Islands (US territory and military mail) or Verb, intransitive (grammar and dictionary).
Meanings of VI at a glance
| # | VI stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | U.S. Virgin Islands | Geography & Places › US Territory and Military Mail |
| 2 | Verb, intransitive | Writing & Everyday › Grammar and Dictionary |
1. U.S. Virgin Islands
Geography & Places · US Territory and Military Mail Abbreviations
St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John, purchased from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold, form the US Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas is the capital, ZIP codes begin with 008, and traffic keeps to the left, unusual for US jurisdictions.
Example: Mail the vacation rental deposit to Cruz Bay, St. John, VI 00830.
VI is also the ISO alpha-2 code (alpha-3 VIR) and the .vi domain; the neighboring British Virgin Islands are VG. The territory is often written USVI in tourism and news to avoid confusion. VI can also be the Roman numeral six or the Unix text editor vi.
2. Verb, intransitive (vi.)
Writing & Everyday · Grammar and Dictionary Abbreviations
Identifies a verb that does not take a direct object, such as "arrive," "sleep" or "laugh." The label tells readers that, in that sense, the verb cannot be followed directly by a noun object.
Example: arrive vi. to reach a place at the end of a journey: "We arrived late."
Variants include v.i., intr. and "intransitive verb." Intransitive verbs cannot be made passive, which is why "The guests were arrived" is ungrammatical. The classic confusion between "lie" (intransitive) and "lay" (transitive) is easier to untangle with these labels. Learner's dictionaries mark the same distinction with [I] and [T].
Related abbreviations
More US territory and military mail abbreviations
- AA – Armed Forces Americas
- AE – Armed Forces Europe
- AP – Armed Forces Pacific
- APO – Army Post Office
- AS – American Samoa
- CMR – Community Mail Room
- CNMI – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
- CZ – Canal Zone
See all 18 US territory and military mail abbreviations →