What does CPD stand for?
Short answer
CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. In some countries and sectors the same concept appears as CE (Continuing Education), CPE (Continuing Professional Education), CLE (Continuing Legal Education) or CME (Continuing Medical Education). The terms differ; the principle — evidenced learning after qualification — is the same.
The acronym you meet depends on where you work and what you do. UK, Irish, Australian, Indian, Gulf and much of African professional practice uses CPD. North American bodies more often say CE or CPE. Medicine uses CME almost everywhere; law commonly uses CLE or, in England and Wales, "continuing competence".
The distinctions matter when you are transferring a record between jurisdictions, because the counting rules differ even where the concept does not. One CPD hour is not automatically one CE credit — always check the receiving body's conversion rule before assuming parity.