et al.
Plus more authors
Et al. is Latin shorthand meaning "and others," used after naming one person from a group to indicate additional unnamed contributors or parties.
Common in academic citations: Johnson et al. found similar results.
Legal and formal writing use it for multiple defendants or signatories: Smith et al. v. the State.
The period follows "al." because it abbreviates "alii" (others).
- co-authorJoint creator of text
- multiple authorsJoint creators of text
- e.g.Introduces an illustration
- abbreviationShortened word form
- citationMention of a source
in-text citation · works cited · cf. · bibliography · publication · passim · authorship · contributors · collaborators · Latinism · manuscript · footnote · editor · shorthand · reference · journal · annotation · research paper
- citationscitation, citations, cite, cited, citation style
- "And More" Phrasesetcetera, and so forth, whatnot, and the like, blah blah
- taxonomygenus, species, taxon, kingdom, phylum
specificity of reference
et al.namely
Introduces specific identification
specifically · to wit · i.e. · viz. · as follows