I'm hoping Fuchsia isn't being designed as an OS where you constantly have to type file paths.

Also you rarely need to type full paths even on Linux. I'm nearly all shells you can press tab to autocomplete them. I.e. you press "/d<tab>" and it will change it to /dev. That's exactly the same for dev and devices.

There's really no reason for short confusing names other than laziness and jargon-based egotism.