New user HELP!

I know that a lot of people may laugh, but I am brand spanking new to IT and am a MT student still.

I am wanting to start building my glossary. I have looked and looked and have probably overlooked the answer. But, how do I enter a short for just a WORD? It only uses the first letter and if I add more than one letter it prompts me to add it as a phrase. But it is one word that I want to shorten and I want it to show on the word list, not phrase. Am I missing something?