How to Pronounce ‘Etcetera’

It’s pronounce “et-cetera,” (with a T sound) not “ex-cetera” (with an X sound). 

In fact, it comes from Latin and was originally written at two words: et and cetera, which translates to and the others. 

These days, it’s abbreviated etc., but what made me think of this topic is that in the old days, it was abbreviated with an ampersand followed by a C, with the ampersand representing the and part of and the others. That’s how it was written on the title page of the book The Doctor, Etc. that I mentioned in last week’s show because it has the original Goldilocks story. 

Your quick and dirty tip is to remember to pronounce it with a T—etcetera—and when you see it written as &c, you know you are looking at a document that is probably at least 100 years old or a document that is trying to use old-fashioned language.