ABV
From The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails
is an abbreviation for “alcohol by volume,” which is a measurement of the relative amount of alcohol (i.e., ethanol) contained in an alcoholic beverage. Most countries require that the ABV of any spirit be stated on the label, typically as a percentage followed by “alc./vol.” or “alc. by vol.”
Lee, Tiffany K. “Alcohol by Volume.” In The Sage Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives, ed. Scott C. Martin, 58–60. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2015.
This definition is from The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, edited by David Wondrich (Editor-in-Chief) and Noah Rothbaum (Associate Editor).