i.e.

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ie"

English

Alternative forms

• i. e.
• ie

Etymology

From Latin i. e., an abbreviation of id est (“that is”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˌaɪˈiː/, /ɪd ɛst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• It is sometimes verbally enunciated as that is.

Adverb

i.e.

1. (initialism) That is, namely, in other words, that is to say.

   The three U.S. states on the west coast (i.e., Washington, Oregon, and California) have mild seasonal variations in temperature (i.e., warm winters and cool summers).

   • 1658, Thomas Hall, “[Chap. 3.] Verse 2. For men shall be lovers of themselves, Covetous, Boasters, Proud, Blasphemers, disobedient to Parents, unthankfull, unholy, &c.”, in A Practical and Polemical Commentary: Or, Exposition upon the Third and Fourth Chapters of the Latter Epistle of Saint Paul to Timothy. […], London: Printed by E. Tyler, for John Starkey, […], OCLC 950943790, page [95]:

     [N]o drunkard (i.e.) no Habituall, Impenitent drunkard, ſhall come into Gods Kingdome.

Usage notes

• Often confused with e.g.: In correct use, i.e. is used to explain, clarify or rephrase a statement, whereas e.g. is used to list examples.
  The correct use of i.e. differs from that of viz. in that what follows i.e. merely restates in other words what has already been said, whereas what follows viz. expands upon what has already been said; and it differs from the correct use of e.g. in that completeness or near-completeness is suggested by i.e., whereas e.g. introduces a not complete and often only small selection of examples.
• American English prefers a comma after i.e., but British English usually does not use a comma there and often does not use dots either.
• Opinion is mixed about whether the abbreviation should be italicized, or whether there should be a separating non-breaking space as in i. e., or whether this matters at all. However, the AMA manual of style recommends to forgo italic on terms long since naturalized into English and not to separate abbreviations (see "Abbreviation" on Wikipedia).

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:in other words

Translations

that is

• Afrikaans: d.w.s. (af)
• Arabic: أَيْ‎ (ar) (ʾay), يَعْنِي‎ (yaʿnī)
• Armenian: այսինքն (hy) (aysinkʿn)
• Bashkir: йәғни (yäğni)
• Bulgarian: т.е. (t.e.)
• Catalan: és a dir, això és (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 也就是 (zh)

• Czech: tj. (cs)
• Danish: dvs. (da)
• Dutch: d.w.z. (nl)
• Esperanto: t.e.
• Estonian: ehk (et)
• Finnish: eli (fi), ts. (fi); l. (fi) (dated)
• French: c.-à-d. (fr), c'est-à-dire (fr)
• Galician: é dicir (gl), ou sexa
• Georgian: ესე იგი (ese igi), ე.ი. (e.i.)
• German: d. i. (de) (pl. d. s.), d. h. (de)
• Greek: δηλ. (el) (dil.), δηλαδή (el) (diladí)
• Hebrew: היינו‎ (háinu), כְּלוֹמַר‎ (he) (klomár), זאת אומרת‎ (he) (zót oméret), קְרִי‎ (he) (qri)
• Hungarian: azaz (hu), ill. (hu)
• Icelandic: þ.e. (is) , þ.e.a.s. (is)
• Ido: t.e. (io), c.e. (io)
• Irish: .i.
• Italian: cioè (it)

• Japanese: すなわち (ja) (sunawachi)
• Latin: i. e., sc., h. e. (hoc est)
• Lithuanian: t.y. (initialism)
• Macedonian: т.е. (mk) (t.e.)
• Malay: iaitu, yakni
• Malayalam: അതായത് (atāyatŭ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dvs. (no)

  Nynorsk: d.e., dvs.

• Old Irish: .i.
• Persian: یعنی‎ (fa) (ya'ni)
• Polish: tzn. (pl), tj. (pl), czyli (pl)
• Portuguese: isto é (pt), ou seja (pt)
• Russian: т. е. (ru) (t. je.), то́ есть (ru) (tó jestʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тј. (то јест)

  Roman: tj. (tȏ jȅst)

• Slovak: čiže, tzn., teda
• Spanish: es decir (es), a saber, o sea (es)
• Swedish: dvs (sv), d v s (sv), d.v.s. (sv)
• Turkish: yani (tr)
• Ukrainian: то́бто (uk) (tóbto)
• Urdu: یعنی‎ (ur)

Anagrams

• EI

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Interlingua

Adverb

i.e.

1. Abbreviation of isto es.

Usage notes

• Equivalent in meaning to English i.e..

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Latin

Phrase

i.e.

1. Alternative form of i. e.