Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro
Ohhhh... I didn't know that. 
I've been thinking it may be "English"...
Koir, thanks. |
To expand Koir's explanation, "e.g." is of Latin origin, but it has become a standard part of educated English usage. As Koir said, it means "for example", and it is followed by one or more examples of the thing being discussed. By the way, it is properly written as "e.g.", with periods after the letters, though it seems some people omit the periods these days.
It stands for Latin "
exempli gratia", but almost no one who uses it knows that. (I certainly didn't--I looked it up.)
Wiktionary entry for "e.g."
Unfortunately, it's fairly common for English speakers to get "e.g." confused with "i.e.", which has a different meaning. "i.e." means "that is" and stands for Latin "
id est". (Again, few users remember the original Latin.) "i.e." is usually used before a further clarification or elaboration of what is being discussed, rather than a listing of specific examples.
Wiktionary entry for "i.e."