While most of us can easily identify the full words behind shorthands like “VP,” “ft.” and “aka,” we struggle with others. Despite the many years and high frequency with which generations of people have said “OK” or written “lb.,” the words behind those abbreviations are not as widely known.

So it stands to reason that the same is true for contemporary additions to the abbreviation lexicon ― like “QR code.” Fortunately, the answer to that one is a little more intuitive.

“QR stands for Quick Response,” said Vahid Behzadan, an assistant professor of computer science and data science at the University of New Haven. “The QR code was invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara, an engineer at the Japanese company Denso Wave. The QR code was originally developed to track automobile parts during the manufacturing process, but it quickly gained popularity in other industries as well.”

Behzadan noted that this type of two-dimensional barcode is ideal for use in a variety of contexts because it’s easy to scan, can be read from any angle and is able to store more information than the traditional linear barcode.