Et cetera

2025-06-12T04:57:14Z

2001:4479:5E01:4E00:52AC:6A26:AB77:AB69: Small clarifications.

{{short description|Latin expression}}
{{redirect2|etc.|etcetera||ETC (disambiguation)|and|Etcetera (disambiguation)}}
{{italic title}}
{{Wiktionary|et cetera}}
[[File:Cromwellcoin.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|The ''&c'' ({{lang|la|et ceterarum}}, "[[Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland]] and another") shows that [[Oliver Cromwell]] did not renounce the [[English claims to the French throne|English claims on France]]]]
'''''Et cetera''''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|ɛ|t|ˈ|s|ɛ|t|ə|ɹ|ə|,_|ɛ|k|-}}, {{IPA|la|ɛt ˈkeːtɛra|lang}}), abbreviated to '''''etc.''''', '''''et cet.''''', '''''&c.''''' or '''''&c''''',<ref>{{cite web|title=Guardian Style Guide|website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date=30 April 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-e}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=UK Government Style Guide|url=https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style}}</ref> is a [[Latin]] expression that is used in English to mean "and all the rest". "&" is a ligature of "et." Translated literally from Latin, {{lang|la|[[wikt:et#Latin|et]]}} can mean {{gloss|and}}, while {{lang|la|[[wikt:ceterus#Latin|cētĕra]]}} can mean {{gloss|the rest}}; thus, the expression translates to {{gloss|and the rest}}.

''Et cetera'' is a [[calque]] (loanword/phrase) of the [[Koine Greek]] {{lang|grc|καὶ τὰ ἕτερα}} ({{transliteration|grc|kai ta hetera}}) meaning 'and the other things'. The typical [[Modern Greek]] form is {{lang|grc|και τα λοιπά}} ({{transliteration|grc|kai ta loipá}}), 'and the remainder'.

== Spelling and usage ==
The one-word spelling ''etcetera'' appears in some dictionaries.<ref name="isbn0-19-861271-0">{{cite book |author=Brown, Lesley |title=The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford [Eng.] |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-861271-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newshorteroxford00lesl }}</ref> The abbreviated form ''&c.'' or ''&c'' is still occasionally used—the [[ampersand]] ⟨&⟩, derives from a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] of {{lang|la|et}}.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Editorial Introduction |volume= 1 | last= Chisholm |first= Hugh |author-link= Hugh Chisholm | pages= x-xxiii |short=1}}</ref>

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:

{{in5}}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]]). 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.

[[File:Et cetera r rotunda.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|''etc.'' in [[Fraktur]]]]
In [[blackletter]] (Gothic or Fraktur) typography, the [[r rotunda]] ⟨ꝛ⟩ is sometimes used for ''et'' in place of the similar-looking [[Tironian notes|Tironian et]] ⟨⁊⟩, followed by ''c'', to yield ''ꝛc''.

==Similar Latin expressions==
* In lists of people, {{lang|la|et alia}} (abbreviated as ''et al.'', meaning "and others") is used in place of ''etc.''
* In lists of places, {{lang|la|et alibi}} may be used, which is also abbreviated ''et al.''; {{lang|la|et alibi}} means "and elsewhere".
* In references to literature or texts in general, {{lang|la|et sequentes (versus)}} or {{lang|la|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 brief]]s 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 themself. 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.<ref>Sir Ernest Gowers, Fowler's Modern English Usage, Second Edition. Published: [[Book Club Associates]] (1965)</ref>

==In popular culture==
In the 1956 film ''[[The King and I (1956 film)|The King and I]]'', [[Yul Brynner]] repeatedly used the expression "''...et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...''" in his portrayal of [[King Rama IV|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.<ref name="Wcs">{{citation|last=Overstreet|first=Maryann|title=Whales, candlelight, and stuff like that|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqvJBmQWuJ8C&pg=PA130|year=1999|page=130|isbn=978-0-19-512574-0}}</ref> This reflected the usage in the novel, ''[[Anna and the King of Siam (book)|Anna and the King of Siam]]'', which expressed that king's playful understanding of innumerable things with the phrase, "&c., &c."<ref name="Wcs" />

== Other uses ==
''Et cetera'' and derivatives such as ''etceteras'', have long been 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...<ref>Helme, Elizabeth. "The farmer of Inglewood Forest: or, An affecting portrait of virtue and vice" Printed and Published by J. Cleave and Son, 1823</ref> (1823)
* The cost of the locomotives and their etceteras, is to be $136000 – their wear and tear $75600. Etceteras $90000...<ref>The Farmer's register, Volume 1. Snowden & M'Corkle, 1834. (Google Books)</ref> (1834)
* The etceteras: asteroids, comets and interplanetary dust are chemically speaking, "impurities" and are just a minuscule fraction of planetary matter.<ref>Degens, Egon T. "Perspectives on Biogeochemistry", Springer-Verlag 1989. {{ISBN|978-0387501918}}</ref> (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.<ref>Maiorino, Giancarlo. "First pages: a poetics of titles", [[Penn State Press]], 2008</ref> (2008)

<code>[[/etc]]</code> is a [[directory (computing)|directory]] in [[UNIX-like]] operating systems, responsible mainly for storing system-wide configuration files, preferences, etc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/etc.html|title=/etc|website=www.tldp.org|access-date=2017-07-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#ETCHOSTSPECIFICSYSTEMCONFIGURATION|title=Filesystem Hierarchy Standard|website=www.pathname.com|access-date=2017-07-06}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Ellipsis|Ellipses]] (...) may be used for a similar function
*[[List of Latin phrases]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]

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Et cetera