What does "et cetera" mean?
F or those of us who like to gloss over details sometimes, nothing will ever beat Elaine Benes’ patented phrase “yada yada yada,” but “et cetera” is a close second. From Latin, “et cetera” means “and the other things, the rest,” and it’s often used at the end of lists to imply there are more entries than those explicitly enumerated. But rather than wrap this edition up quickly by closing with “et cetera” now, let’s take a closer look at the phrase’s origins and meaning. Though we most often see them together in English, both et and cetera are Latin words on their own. Et means “and,” while cetera is the plural form of ceterus , meaning “the other… which remains.” Today, you’re likely to see the English term written as two words, (incorrectly) as a single “etcetera,” or as an abbreviated “etc.” The abbreviation of “etc.” is so common today that someone is likely to understand its usage even without knowing the full phrase, but there is an earlier abbreviation that h...