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Difference between i.e. and e.g.

Pomegranate on a pale blue plate on a wooden surface

This is part of the difference between series.

People often confuse these two closely related Latin abbreviations. Here is the difference.

i.e.

i.e. is short for id est, which means “that is” or “in other words”.

I work 35 hours a week (i.e. I have 7-hour workdays).

e.g.

e.g. is short for exempli gratia, which means “for the sake of example” or “for example”.

I like red fruit (e.g. apples, tomatoes, and pomegranates).

Note: When using e.g., never use etc. Using e.g. already implies that what follows is a selection of examples, not an exhaustive list of all examples. In the example above, some red fruit the speaker likes are apples, tomatoes, and pomegranates, but that doesn’t rule out strawberries and cherries. Including etc. is just redundant.

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