等(など)Such as, Things like, Etc., And so on

など is an adverbial particle that is used to express that something is being presented as an example, but that other things in the same category also exist. In this way, it is regularly translated as 'such as', 'things like', or 'and so on'.

など may be used after nouns, to describe that (A) is being presented as an example from within a group. Alternatively, など can be followed by の (B), to show that (A) is only one type of thing from the broader category, (B).

など is regularly seen in its kanji form, 等(など). This kanji itself has a similar meaning to 'etc' in English.

Fun Fact

The kanji for 等(など) is also used in the pluralizing suffix, ら. Due to this, we can see that this kanji is regularly utilized to highlight something that exists as part of a larger group.

In the first sentence, など presents (A) as being part of a larger group of similar things. This is exactly the same thing that happens in the second sentence with ら.

Fun Fact

など is also sometimes written as なんか, and has an interchangeable meaning in many situations. However, なんか will never use the kanji form of 等(など).