Can "sitcom" be considered an "acronym"? A Syllabic Acronym? Or a Hybrid Acronym?

Solution 1:

Yes, sitcom can be considered an acronym.

The ODO definition is a bit too restrictive, if you ask me.

Compare it to the OED, which has two distinct senses of the word: the first is identical to initialism (i.e., when each letter in the acronym is pronounced individually); the second is:

A word formed from the initial letters of other words or (occas.) from the initial parts of syllables taken from other words, the whole being pronounced as a single word (such as NATO, RADA). [My emphasis]

The Merriam-Webster definition is also more inclusive:

a word (as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term

Both these definitions tally with the very first two sentences in the Wikipedia article on acronyms:

An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters (as in laser) or parts of words (as in Benelux and Ameslan).

All this does not mean that ‘acronym’ is the first thing people think of when they hear sitcom—it is an option, but I would not call it the ideal description. Sitcom is a more typical case of blending, so if you are simply looking for a word to describe sitcom (rather than specifically wondering whether you can describe it as an acronym), I would use that instead.

Solution 2:

Sitcom is defined as a shortening by

• The Free Dictionary
  n. Informal. situation comedy. [1960–65; by shortening]

• Wikipedia
  A situation comedy, often shortened to the portmanteau sitcom

• Dictionary.com
  noun, Informal. 1. situation comedy. 1960-65; by shortening

Or as an abbreviation by

• Oxford Dictionaries
  Origin 1960s: abbreviation.
• Reverso Dictionary
  A sitcom is an amusing television drama series about a set of characters. Sitcom is an abbreviation for `situation comedy'

Or simply short for by

• Vocabulary.com
  Sitcom is short for “situation comedy.”

Or a clipped form as described by Prof. Larry Trask

Contractions must be carefully distinguished from clipped forms. A clipped form is a full word which happens to be derived by chopping a piece off a longer word, usually one with the same meaning. Clipped forms are very common in English; here are a few, with their related longer forms:

gym_____gymnasium
ad ______advertisement
pro _____professional
deli _____delicatessen
hippo ____hippopotamus (etc.)

Or as a clipping by Wikipedia

In linguistics, clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (Marchand: 1969). Clipping is also known as "truncation" or "shortening." Clipping mainly consists of the following types:

Back clipping
Fore-clipping
Middle clipping
Complex clipping

[...]

Complex Clipping

Clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often remains intact. Examples are: cablegram (cable telegram), op art (optical art), org-man (organization man), linocut (linoleum cut). Sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped as in navicert (navigation certificate). In these cases it is difficult to know whether the resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a blend, for the border between the two types is not always clear. According to Bauer (1983), the easiest way to draw the distinction is to say that those forms which retain compound stress are clipped compounds, whereas those that take simple word stress are not. By this criterion bodbiz, Chicom, Comsymp, Intelsat, midcult, pro-am, photo op, sci-fi, and sitcom are all compounds made of clippings.

Solution 3:

The word sitcom is a portmanteau of situation and comedy.