Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- And other unspecified things of the same class; and so forth.
- n. A number of unspecified persons or things.
- n. Additional odds and ends; extras.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. And others; and so forth; and so on: generally used when a number of individuals of a class have been specified, to indicate that more of the same sort might have been mentioned, but for shortness are omitted: as, stimulants comprise brandy, rum, whisky, wine, beer, etcetera.
Wiktionary
- And the rest, and the others; to complete a list.
- And so forth; to indicate missing information, often well known.
GNU Webster's 1913
- Others of the like kind; and the rest; and so on; -- used to point out that
other things which could be mentioned are to be understood. Usually abbreviated into etc. or &c. (&c.)
WordNet 3.0
- n. additional unspecified odds and ends; more of the same
- adv. continuing in the same way
Etymologies
- From Latin et cētera ("and the rest" or "and so forth") (Wiktionary)
- Latin : et, and + cētera, the rest, neuter pl. of cēterus; see ko- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Then he whispers a few words of Shi which, though coarser, are oddly reminiscent of those spoken by the little gentleman at the trattoria in Battersea: God give me strength to address this son of an arse hole et cetera and of course I give no indication whatever of understanding this, preferring to make a few innocent doodles on my notepad.”
the mission song
“Her inspection of me complete, she took my hand and led me on a tour of the room, the apparent purpose of which was to link me to my possessions: Aunt Imelda's locket, my father's missal, et cetera and because a degree nurse doesn't miss a trick where her patient is concerned the vacant nearly-white mark on the third finger of my left hand.”
the mission song
“Why, as the patriarchs of old, I pass the days in the fields, among horses and oxen, sheep, cows, bulls, and sows, et cetera pecora campi.”
Selected English Letters
“Qui de astrorum cursibus vitam hominum et gesta perquirunt, qui volatus avium et cetera huiusmodi, quae in saeculo prius observabantur, inquirunt, de Jericho anathema inferunt in ecclesiam, et polluunt castra domini et vinci faciunt populum dei” (“Those who, even though they are”
The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries
“These boards or departments would have to study all the causes which go to make the community's producing power inconstant — such as failure of crops, drouths, et cetera — and so to direct the energy of the community that equilibrium between its production and consumption might still be maintained.”
“Qui de astrorum cursibus vitam hominum et gesta perquirunt, qui volatus avium et cetera huiusmodi, quae in saeculo prius observabantur, inquirunt, de Jericho anathema inferunt in ecclesiam, et polluunt castra domini et vinci faciunt populum dei:”
The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘et cetera’.
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Pedantic distinctions
Put the two words next to each other. Pedants of the world pen your pet peeves here!
syntax, grammar, imply, infer, comprise, compose, effect, affect, insure, ensure, uninterested, disinterested and 21 more...
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i.e., Latin
Latin terms sometimes more commonly known in English by their abbreviations alone.
vice versa, versus, videlicet, vide infra, verbi gratia, voce, pro tempore, per procurationem, pluta paper, post meridiem, paper, opere citato and 14 more...
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Latin Words Used in English
Latin words, phrases, or abbreviations still used in modern English.
et cetera, ad hoc, post scriptum, id est, semper fidelis, semper paratus, veritas, vice versa, ergo, modus operandi, status quo, exempli gratia and 6 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Latinate
lorem ipsum, citius, altius, fortius, curriculum vitae, bona fide, terra nullius, habeas corpus, quidnunc, voir dire, emeritus, quincunx and 99 more...
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zanshin's Words
gargoyle, ennui, paradigm, aardvark, verisimilitude, ghoti, tenacity, nescience, guillemet, squonk, maven, moxie and 210 more...
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Vocalublary Awareness
Words I need to use more to increase my vocabulary.
incredulous, prolific, ubiquitous, egregious, aplomb, resilience, persevere, punctilious, perspicacious, inordinate, articulate, enunciate and 199 more...
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boychoir's Words
tantamount, nom de guerre, absurd, dolt, transmute, dichotomy, dandy, schadenfreude, ennui, binary, analog, obfuscate and 93 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2031 more...
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speaking in tongues
schadenfreude, naïve, gnosis, sangfroid, capisce, flagrante delicto, lux, veritas, gravitas, coquette, panache, nom de plume and 73 more...
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Most often mispronounced words
across, affidavit, antarctic, arctic, ask, athlete, barbiturate, barbed wire, business, cavalry, candidate, cardsharp and 50 more...
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just saying
yeah, alas, aargh, bah, because, boo, certainly, damn, geez, grrr, hey, lame and 34 more...
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Idioms
Faux pas, Fait accompli, Laissez-faire, Ménage à trois, Par excellence, Vis-à-vis, À la carte, À la mode, Au contraire, Carte blanche, Cinéma vérité, Crème de la crème and 55 more...
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laurea's Words
lackadaisical, laelia, laurel, frippery, lascivious, cacophony, effectuate, leukorrhea, kerfluffle, nickelodeon, garrulous, onomastics and 63 more...
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Atinlay Asesphray
Latin is, for all intents and purposes, a dead language. Yet its ghost continues to haunt those of us who speak English.
caveat emptor, ad hoc, de facto, carpe diem, et cetera, habeas corpus, non sequitur, ad nauseam, persona non grata, amicus curiae, per se, a priori and 30 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for et cetera.

ruzuzu Dear qroqqa,
I adore you, I like all your comments, and I think you're awesome, et cetera.
Yours truly,
ruzuzu Jun 6, 2011
qroqqa Well, as 'aut cetera' is neither English nor Latin for the idea conveyed by the English 'et cetera' and the Latin 'et cetera', the claim 'ought' is unjustifiable. You ought to write good English or good Latin.
'Et cetera' attaches (and 'et cetera' attached) to a list: it conveys that the list is incomplete, and that there are to be understood the remaining items, the rest of that kind, other things of like kind, etc. There are further items on the list. That is an "and", not an "or", regardless of the purpose you intend to put the list to: giving someone a choice from it, for example. Nov 11, 2008
shevek Aut cetera really ought to be used for lists of alternatives, not et cetera. Nov 11, 2008
pterodactyl See this map for American pronunciation. Apr 10, 2008
uselessness Latin for "and so on," or "and other things." Used to indicate the continuation of a sequence of related items. Frequently abbreviated as etc. May 22, 2007