Mnemonic

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

mnemonic
    adj 1: of or relating to or involved the practice of aiding the
           memory; "mnemonic device" [syn: {mnemonic},
           {mnemotechnic}, {mnemotechnical}]
    n 1: a device (such as a rhyme or acronym) used to aid recall

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Mnemonic \Mne*mon"ic\ (n[-e]*m[o^]n"[i^]k), Mnemonical
\Mne*mon"ic*al\ (n[-e]*m[o^]n"[i^]*kal), a. [Gr. mnhmoniko`s,
   fr. mnh`mwn mindful, remembering, mnh`mh memory, mna^sqai to
   think on, remember; akin to E. mind.]
   Assisting in memory; helping to remember; as, a mnemonic
   device.
   [1913 Webster]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

mnemonic \mnemonic\ n.
   1. Something used to assist the memory, as an easily
      remembered acronym or verse.
      [WordNet 1.5]

   2. An abbreviated word that resembles the full word, used so
      as to be easily recognized; as, the CIDE uses ... tags as
      mnemnonics for an italicised word or field.
      [PJC]

   Note: In basic organic chemistry class, one may learn the
         mnenomic "Oh my, such good apple pie" to help remember
         the names of the dicarboxylic acids in increasing order
         of length, namely: oxalic, malonic, succinic, glutaric,
         adipic, and pimelic acids. (From L. Fieser's Organic
         Chemistry text).

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

mnemonic

   <programming> A word or string which is intended to be easier
   to remember than the thing it stands for.  Most often used in
   "{instruction mnemonic}" which are so called because they are
   easier to remember than the {binary} patterns they stand for.
   Non-printing {ASCII} characters also have mnemonics like
   {NAK}, {ESC}, {DEL} intended to evoke their meaning on certain
   systems.

   (1995-05-11)