viz.

See also: viz, vız, víz, viž, and vīž

English

Alternative forms

vid., videl.

Etymology

From Medieval Latin viꝫ, from Latin vidēlicet (“that is to say, namely”), short for vidēre licet (“it is permitted to see”, literally “to-look (it) allows”). The ‘z’ comes from the similarity between ꝫ (‘et’) and the cursive form of the letter z, with the former having originated as a common abbreviation (specifically, a Tironian note), used by Latin scribes in the Middle Ages, for the suffix -et (among others).

Compare ⁊ (‘et’), the Tironian symbol for the Latin word et (“and”) and for its equivalents in other European languages (including Old English and) in medieval times.

Pronunciation

Conventionally read out as namely, to wit, or occasionally videlicet. Otherwise pronounced as follows:

IPA^(key): /vɪz/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪz

Adverb

viz. (not comparable)

Videlicet: namely, to wit, that is to say, specifically, as an illustration.
Synonyms: namely; see also Thesaurus:specifically
- 1821 September–October, [Thomas De Quincey], “[Part II.] Introduction to the Pains of Opium.”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, 2nd edition, London: […] [J. Moyes] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1823, →OCLC, page 119:
  I am at this period, viz. in 1812, living in a cottage; […]
- 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
  The fact is, when Captain Dobbin blushed so, and looked so, it was necessary to inform the young ladies, viz., that he had been calling at Mr. Sedley's house already, […]
- 1993, Hans Kamp, Uwe Reyle, From Discourse to Logic: Introduction to Modeltheoretic Semantics of Natural Language, Formal Logic and Discourse Representation Theory‎^[1], page 51:
  This, however, makes it necessary to distinguish between two different types of gaps, viz. between “singular NP gaps” and “plural NP gaps.”
- 2012, Matti Sintonen, Realism in Action: Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences‎^[2]:
  As to (b), the joint intention, like any intention, commits the intending agents to carry out its content, viz. to act.

Usage notes

The abbreviation viz. serves to introduce a list or series. It differs from i.e. in that the subsequent text typically elaborates upon a preceding statement rather than merely rephrasing it, and from e.g. in that it implies completeness or near-completeness rather than offering a limited selection of examples. As a nonrestrictive element, it should be set off from the sentence—generally by commas.

Translations

abbreviation for namely

Dutch: nl. (nl), d.w.z. (nl), (Belgium), t.t.z. (nl)
Esperanto: nome (eo)
French: c.-à-d. (fr)
German: d.h. (de), näml. (de)
Greek: ήτοι (el) (ítoi), δηλ. (el) (dil.)
Hungarian: tudniillik (hu), mégpedig (hu), éspedig (hu), úgymint (hu)
Polish: tj. (pl)
Russian: то́ есть (ru) (tó jestʹ), а и́менно (ru) (a ímenno)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: то јест

Latin: to jest
Spanish: a saber (es), concretamente
Swedish: d.v.s. (sv)