Viz.
Pronunciation
Usually read out as namely, to wit, or occasionally videlicet. Otherwise pronounced as follows:- IPA: /vɪz/
Origin
From Latin videlicet ("that is to say, namely"), short for videre licet ("it is permitted to see "). The ‘z’ was originally not a letter but a common Middle Latin scribal abbreviation that was used for -et, specifically a Tironian notes. The symbol resembled ‘z’, or rather 3 and Èœ, and hence is thus represented in type. Compare âŠ, the Tironian symbol for Latin et ("and") (in isolation, not as suffix).
Full definition of viz.
Adverb
viz.
- namely, that is to say, as follows, specifically, as an illustration.
- 1848, 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, . . . . (Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray)
- 1993, This, however, makes it necessary to distinguish between two different types of gaps, viz. between “singular NP gaps†and “plural NP gaps.†(Hans Kamp and Uwe Reyle, From Discourse to Logic: Introduction to Modeltheoretic Semantics of Natural Language, Formal Logic and Discourse Representation Theory, p. 51.)
Usage notes
viz. is used to introduce a list or series. It differs from i.e. in that what follows normally expands upon what has already been said, rather than merely restating it in other words; and from e.g. in that completeness or near-completeness is suggested, rather than a small selection of examples.