Etc

etc is the written Abréviation Latin expression E and will cetera desunt , which means “and the other things miss”, and which is used to show that a list is not exhaustive. One can again shorten it by employing the Esperluette, which gives &/c. , &c. , or &ca. ; these last forms are not however used any more today.

The orthographies and will caetera and and will cætera also exist. On the other hand, the orthography and will cœtera is incorrect and probably comes from possible confusion between æ in italic and œ .

This expression by no means needs to be repeated. It has the same direction as the Points of suspension (…) : they should not thus be employed together. In an enumeration, etc is necessarily preceded by a Virgule and should be preceded by at least three terms: “of apples, pears, the scoubidous, etc”.

Moreover in Typography, it is recommended always to put a Nonbreaking space before the abbreviation in order to avoid beginning a line with it, the employment of “, _etc. ” is thus recommended (the “_” symbolizes the nonbreaking space).

As opposed to what one often hears in France in the spoken language, etc decides (“and will sétéra”) or (“and will kétéra”), and not (“èk will sétéra”, there are “T” and not “K”).

Appearances

And will cetera oath

The And will cetera oath is a Serment of allegiance in the Église of England, at the 17th century. It draws its name from the passage:

give Nor will I ever my authorizes to alter the government off this Church, by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and will cetera , ace it stands now established.

The presence of this and will cetera brought part of the Clergé, in particular Richard Baxter, to refuse to lend oath, not wishing to subject itself to something of implicit, to which one could thereafter give the interpretation which one wishes according to the turning of the events.

With the weapons and will caetera

In 1979, the song With the weapons and will caetera of Serge Gainsbourg takes again only to the beginning of the words of the Refrain of the Marseillaise ; the remainder is shortened by and will caetera , in reference to the words of the anthem as registered in the dictionary where the refrain is shortened thus.

Alternatives

For the lists of people, or more rarely of places, one will prefer the abbreviation and Al , from which the significance is different according to the case: respectively and alii (“and others”) and and alibi (“and elsewhere”). This form is by convention usually employed in the bibliographic records for the references of article or book comprising more than 3 authors (for example: Dupont and Al , 2000).

To use etc for a list of people can sometimes be perceived like pejorative or insulting.

See too

etc|etc

Latin Expression
List of the Latin phrases

Simple: And will cetera

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