- (informal)
a confusing mixture of things, especially language that contains many symbols or abbreviations （因含有许多符号或缩略语等而极难懂的）代号语言 an alphabet soup of government agencies (= because their names consist of complicated abbreviations) 政府机构的字母汤 Special education is an alphabet soup of legal requirements. 特殊教育是法律要求的字母汤。
soup that contains pasta in the shape of letters 字母汤（汤里含有字母形面食）
Word Originearly 20th cent.: alluding to a kind of clear soup containing pasta in the shapes of letters.