The acronym "HTML" stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It is the standard markup language used for creating and designing documents on the web. HTML structures web pages by utilizing various elements and tags, which define the layout and appearance of text, images, links, and other multimedia elements. HTML is foundational to web development, allowing browsers to render and display page content correctly. It is often used in conjunction with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for styling and JavaScript for functionality, permitting developers to build dynamic and interactive web applications.