viz.
Writing & Everyday abbreviation · Latin
| Stands for | Videlicet (namely) |
|---|---|
| Categories | Writing & Everyday |
viz. stands for Videlicet (namely), a Latin abbreviation.
Introduces an exact enumeration or specification of something just mentioned, much like "namely." The term is formal and somewhat old-fashioned, surviving mostly in legal, scientific and British academic writing.
Example: Three groups were excluded from the trial, viz. children, pregnant women and patients over 80.
Usage notes
Videlicet is a contraction of videre licet, "it is permitted to see." The z is not really the letter z: it renders a medieval scribal mark, shaped like a 3 or z, that stood for the Latin ending -et. Read it aloud as "namely." Unlike e.g., it introduces a complete list, so in meaning it sits closer to i.e.
Related abbreviations
More Latin abbreviations
- a.m. – Ante meridiem (before midday)
- a.u.c. – Ab urbe condita (from the founding of the city)
- AD – Anno Domini (in the year of the Lord)
- ad inf. – Ad infinitum (to infinity)
- ad lib. – Ad libitum (at one's pleasure)
- aet. – Aetatis (aged, at the age of)
- c. – Circa (around, approximately)
- cet. par. – Ceteris paribus (other things being equal)
- cf. – Confer (compare)
- CV – Curriculum vitae (course of life)
- d. – Denarius (penny)
- D.G. – Dei gratia (by the grace of God)