"Et al." is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "et alia," which means "and others." It is commonly used in academic writing and citations to indicate that there are multiple authors or contributors to a work, but only the first author is named explicitly, followed by "et al." to represent the rest
. This abbreviation helps to simplify citations and avoid listing a long series of names. Different citation styles have specific rules for when and how to use "et al." For example, in APA style (7th edition), "et al." is used in in-text citations when a source has three or more authors, citing only the first author followed by "et al."
. In MLA style, "et al." is used for sources with three or more authors both in-text and in the Works Cited list
. Chicago style has its own thresholds for using "et al." as well
. In summary, "et al." means "and others" and is a convenient way to refer to multiple authors or contributors without naming each one individually in academic and formal writing contexts
