phrase
Latin
Et al. (et alia)
lit. “and others”
Standard academic shorthand for 'and other authors' in a citation with multiple contributors.
Origin
From et alia ('and others'), or its masculine et alii / feminine et aliae forms. The abbreviation has been universal in academic citation for over a century. The convention is to name the first author then 'et al.' once a paper has more than two or three authors, varying by style guide.
Modern usage
Universal in scholarly writing. Now also used colloquially as a casual 'and the rest' — 'I went with Sarah, Mike, et al.' Mostly written; saying 'et al.' out loud feels slightly arch.
In the wild
See Smith et al., 2018 for the full data.— academic citation
Tags
citation
academic
abbreviation