- and others; and the like; and the rest; and so forth
- or the like; or others of the same kind; or something similar
Origin of et cetera
Classical Latinet cetera
et cet·er·aWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"et cetera." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/et-cetera>.
APA Style
et cetera. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/et-cetera
et cetera
Abbr. etc.
And other unspecified things of the same class; and so forth.
Origin of et cetera
Latin et and cētera the rest neuter pl. of cēterus ; see ko- in Indo-European roots.THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"et cetera." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/et-cetera>.
APA Style
et cetera. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/et-cetera
Phrase
- And the rest, and the others; to complete a list.
- The grocery sells cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, etc.
- And so forth; to indicate missing information, often well known.
- The plagiarism was painfully obvious: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," etc.
Usage notes
- This phrase is not usually written out; rather, it is usually abbreviated in writing as etc., or sometimes (especially formerly) as &c.. These abbreviations are still pronounced, however, as the full phrase.
- Many speakers use a /k/ sound rather than a /t/ sound in the first word. This pronunciation is usually considered incorrect, is proscribed, and is somewhat stigmatized. It is sometimes represented in eye dialect as "excetera", "exetera", or "ekcetera".
Origin
From Latin et cētera (“and the rest" or "and so forth”)
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"et cetera." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/et-cetera>.
APA Style
et cetera. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/et-cetera
