etc.

American

abbreviation

and others; and so forth; and so on (used to indicate that more of the same sort or class might have been mentioned, but for brevity have been omitted).

You can leave your coats, umbrellas, etc., at the door.

etc. British

abbreviation

et cetera

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of etc.

Shortening of et cetera

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By shining lasers through the material and studying how the reflected light changed in color, wavelength, etc., they confirmed that chiral phonons in quartz produce a significant magnetic field.

From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2026

And so the tents began to come down, and the suitcases, shopping carts, wagons, bicycles, etc., began to fill up.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Much of the economic health of the entertainment industry trades — Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, etc. — rely on the avalanche of ad spending and free content that comes from Oscar campaigning.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2026

Knowing with such calibrated exactitude what Harry Potter etc. would be worth to Netflix until the end of time is quite a feat.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

The Head was hospitalized, there was a lot of paperwork involved, etc. etc.

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023