''Et Cetera'' ( or (proscribed) , ), abbreviated to ''etc.'', ''etc'', ''et cet.'', ''&c.'' or ''&c'' is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

expression that is used in English to mean "and other similar things", or "and so forth". Translated literally from

, means 'and', while means 'the rest'; thus the expression translates to 'and the rest (of such things)'. Et Cetéra is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

() meaning 'and the other things'. The typical Modern Greek form is (), 'and the remainder'.

Spellings and usage

The one-word spelling "etcetera" appears in some dictionaries. The abbreviated form ''&c.'' or ''&c'' is still occasionally used (the

ampersand The ampersand, also known as the and sign, is the logogram , representing the conjunction "and". It originated as a ligature of the letters ''et''—Latin for "and". Etymology Traditionally in English, when spelling aloud, any letter that ...

character, ''&'', derives from a

ligature Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...

of ). The phrase ''et cetera'' is often used to denote the logical continuation of some sort of series of descriptions. For example, in the following expression: ''We will need a lot of bread: wheat, granary, wholemeal, etc. on our menu. '' In this case of a use at the end of a list without conjunction, a comma is typically written in front of the phrase (but see:

Serial comma In English-language punctuation, a serial comma (also called a series comma, Oxford comma, or Harvard comma) is a comma placed immediately after the penultimate term (i.e., before the coordinating conjunction, such as ''and'' or ''or'') in a se ...

). If etc. is used at the end of a sentence, the dot is not doubled. If it occurs at the end of exclamations, questions or a clause, the dot is not suppressed but followed by whatever punctuation marks are required to end or continue the sentence. Et cetera r rotunda

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...

(Gothic or Fraktur) typography, the "

r rotunda The r rotunda ⟨ ꝛ ⟩, "rounded r", is a historical calligraphic variant of the minuscule (lowercase) letter Latin '' r'' used in full script-like typefaces, especially blackletters. Unlike other letter variants such as " long s" which ...

" (ꝛ) is sometimes used for ''et'' in place of the similar-looking Tironian et (⁊), followed by ''c'', to yield ''ꝛc''.

Similar Latin expressions

* In lists of people, ''et alii'' (abbreviated as ''et al.'', meaning "and others") is used in place of ''etc.'' * In lists of places, ''et alibi'' may be used, which is also abbreviated ''et al.''; ''et alibi'' means "and elsewhere". * In references to literature or texts in general, ''et sequentes (versus)'' or ''et sequentia'' 'and the words etc. following' (abbreviated ''et seq.'', plural ''et seqq.'') are used to indicate that only the first portion of a known reference is given explicitly, with broad reference to the following passages which logically follow in sequence to the explicit reference. Hence "Title VII, Section 4, Subsection A, Paragraph 1, ''et seq.''" might refer to many subsections or paragraphs which follow Paragraph 1. Legal briefs and legislative documents make heavy use of ''et seq.'' Notice that there is a functional difference between ''et seq.'' and ''etc.'' Et seq. and its variations refer specifically to known text; etc. may do so too, but is more likely to leave the reader to supply the unspecified items for himself. It would not be helpful to say: "Various paragraphs of import similar to those in Title VII, Sections 4, 7, and 2 ''et seq.''" though it might make sense to use ''etc.'' in such a context.

In popular culture

In the 1956 film '' The King and I'',

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...

repeatedly used the expression "''...et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...''" in his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam, to characterize the king as wanting to impress everyone with his breadth of great knowledge and the importance of one with no need to expound. This reflected the usage in the novel, '' Anna and the King of Siam'', which expressed that king's playful understanding of innumerable things with the phrase, "&c., &c."

Other uses

"Et cetera" and derivatives, such as "etceteras", have long been, and still are, used airily, humorously or dismissively, often as a cadigan, for example: * ... he still wanted numberless appendages to make him a fine gentleman, such as a fashionable tailor and hairdresser, an unblushing confidence, together with a long train of etceteras. These fashionable introductories being wanting, Mr Whitmore was obliged to find a substitute... (1823) * The cost of the locomotives and their etceteras, is to be $136000 – their wear and tear $75600. Etceteras $90000... (1834) * The etceteras: asteroids, comets and interplanetary dust are chemically speaking, "impurities" and are just a minuscule fraction of planetary matter. (1989) * Having tried "to recover myth outside the books," the hidalgo crosses paths with common sense, everyday toils, and the religious dictates of the Counter-Reformation on a journey that tries to rescue chivalric etceteras of old. (2008) * /etc, a

directory Directory may refer to: * Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files * Directory (OpenVMS command) * Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...

(aka "folder") in UNIX-like

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also ...

s, responsible mainly for storing system-wide configuration files, preferences, etc.

In other languages

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

: ; also and . (abbreviation: ens.) * Albanian: (abbr.: etj.) *

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: إلى آخره، إلخ (, ) *

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

: և այլն () * Azerbaijani: (abbr.: və s.) or (abbr.: və s. və i.a.) *

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

: ''eta abar'' (abbr.: etab.) * Bengali: ইত্যাদি () or প্রভৃতি () is used for ''et cetera'' while "প্রমুখ" () is used for ''et alii'' * Bulgarian: и така нататък (abbr.: и т.н.) * Catalan: ''etcètera'' (abbr.: etc.) *

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

: 等 (''děng'') or "等等" (''děngděng'') *

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech ...

: ''a tak dále'' (abbr.: atd.) *

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

: ''og så videre'' (abbr.: osv.) *

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People ...

: ''enzovoort'' or ''enzovoorts'' (abbr.: enz.) *

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international commun ...

: ''kaj tiel plu'' (abbr.: ktp.) * Estonian: ''ja nii edasi'' (abbr.: jne) * Faroese: ''og so framvegis'' (abbr.: osfr. or o.s.fr.) * Finnish: ''ja niin edelleen'' (abbr.: jne.) or "ynnä muuta sellaista" (abbr.: yms.) * French: ''et cetera'', ''et cætera'', or ''et caetera'' (abbr.: etc.) * Galician: ''e o demais'', or ''etcétera'' (abbr. etc.) * Georgian: და ასე შემდეგ (rom.: da ase shemdeg) (abbr.: და ა.შ.) * German: ''usw.'' for ("and so forth"). *

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: και τα λοιπά (ke ta lipá, abbr.: κτλ.) * Gujarati: વગેરે * Ancient Greek: καὶ τὰ ἕτερα (ke ta étera) *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: (v'hulei, abbr.: ) or (v'hadomeh, abbr.: ) or וגומר (v'gomer, abbr.: וג') *

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

: इत्यादि (''ityadi'') or वगैरा (''vagaira'') * Hungarian: ''és a többi'' (abbr.: stb.), ''és így tovább''; ''etc.'' is in regular use, too * Icelandic: ''og svo framvegis'' (abbr.: o.s.frv.) * Indonesian: ''dan lain-lain'' (abbr.: dll.), ''dan sebagainya'' (used for similar things; abbr.: dsb.), dan seterusnya (used for sequences; abbr.: dst.) * Irish: (abbr.: srl./⁊rl) *

isiXhosa Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a secon ...

: ''njalo-njalo'' * Italian: ''eccetera'', (abbr.: ecc. or etc.) * Japanese: "その他" (''sono ta'', ''sono hoka''), or suffix "等" (''tō'', ''nado'') or "など" (''nado''), "エトセトラ/えとせとら" (''etosetora'') *

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

: "ಇತರೆ" () or "ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ" () *

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language * ...

: "등/等"() or "기타/其他" () * Kyrgyz: жана башкалар (abbr.: ж.б.), дагы ушул сыяктуулар (abbr.: д.у.с.) * Lao: ຯລຯ (read as ແລະອຶ່ນໆ ''lɛ-ɯːn-ɯːn'') * Latvian: ''un tā tālāk'' (abbr.: utt.) *

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

: ''ir taip toliau'' (abbr.: ir t.t.) * Macedonian: и така натаму (abbr.: итн.) * Malagasy: ''sy ny sisa'' (abbr.: sns.) *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

: തുടങ്ങിയവ (pronounced ''thudangiyava'') * Maltese: ''eċċetera'' (abbr.: eċċ.) *

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Mahara ...

: इत्यादी (pron. ''ityadi'') * Mongolian: гэх мэт (abbr.: г.м.) *

Nepali language Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a ''lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian stat ...

: आदि, इत्यादि aadi * Norwegian (bokmål): ''og så videre'' (abbr.: osv.) * Norwegian (nynorsk): ''og så bortetter'' (abbr.: osb.) or ''og så vidare'' (osv.) * Odia: ''ଇତ୍ୟାଦି'' *

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: وغیره () *

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin scree ...

: ''i tak dalej'' (abbr.: itd.) * Portuguese: ''et cetera'' (abbr.: etc.) * Punjabi: ਆਦਿਕ (pron. aadik) and ਆਦਿ (pron. aadi) * Romanian: ''și așa mai departe'' (abbr.: ș.a.m.d.), or ''și celelalte'' (abbr.: ș.cl.); the latter somewhat obsolete *

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...

: и так далее (rom.: i tak daleje) (abbr.: и т.д.), or и тому подобное (rom.: i tomu podobnoje) (abbr.: и т.п.) *

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...

: इत्यादिः (''ityaadih'') * Serbo-Croatian: ''i tako dalje'' / и тако даље (abbr.: itd. / итд.) *

Sesotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free St ...

: ''jwalo-jwalo'' (abbr.: j.j.) * Slovak: ''a tak ďalej'' (abbr.: atď.) * Slovenian: ''in tako dalje'' (abbr.: itd.) *

Sorani Central Kurdish (), also called Sorani (), is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two o ...

:هەتادوایی،هتد (''hata dwayy'', abbr.: htd) * Somali:''Iyo wixii lamida'' (abbr.:IWM) *

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''etcétera'' (abbr.: etc.) * Swahili: ''na kadhalika'' (abbr.: n.k.) * Swedish: ''och så vidare'' (abbr.: o.s.v.) * Tagalog: ''at iba pa'' (abbr: atbp.) *

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: இன்ன பிற (pron. ''iṉṉa piṟa''), முதலியன (pron. ''muthaliyaṉa'') * Telugu: "ఇతర", "ఇత్యాది", "మొదలగునవి" or "మొదలైనవి", "వగైరా"(pronounced as "ithara", "ithyaadhi", "modalagunavi" or "modhalainavi", "vagairaa") * Thai: ฯลฯ (This three-letter combination is not an abbreviation but a sign called ''ไปยาลใหญ่'' "paiyan yai". It is to be read ''และอื่นๆ'' "lae uen uen", or ''และอื่นๆ อีกมากมาย'' "lae uen uen ik mak mai", meaning "and others" or "and many others", respectively.) * Turkish: ''ve benzerleri'' (abbr.: vb.) or ''vesaire'' (abbr.: vs.) * Turkmen: we ''şuňa meňzeşler'' (abbr.: we ş.m.) * Ukrainian: тощо (''toshcho'') *

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Uyghur: قاتارلىق * Vietnamese: ''vân vân'' (abbr.: v.v.) * Welsh: ''ac yn y blaen'' (abbr.: ayyb) *

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

: און אזוי ווייטער (rom. ''un azoy vayter'') (abbr.: )

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, et cetera
I.E., ETC., et al AND E.G. –Comparison, Difference

ईटीसी का अर्थ (ETC Full form)
Latin words and phrases