1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a compound term that includes multiple constituent terms, and a candidate abbreviation for the compound term; pairing, with the candidate abbreviation, a constituent term, wherein the paired constituent term is one of the multiple constituent terms that make up a portion of the compound term; applying a similarity criterion to the paired candidate abbreviation and constituent term; determining that the paired candidate abbreviation and constituent term satisfy the applied similarity criterion; and establishing that the candidate abbreviation is not an abbreviation for the compound term, based on determining that the paired candidate abbreviation and constituent term satisfy the applied similarity criterion.