What is the difference between "i.e." and "e.g." and what do they mean?

e.g. comes from latin (exempli gratia) which means: for example, like, such as.

i.e. comes from latin (id est) which means: that is, that is to say.

Basically, both refer to examples. To choose which one is better, just decide which would go better in your text: "for example" or "that is to say" and substitute it.

Hope it helps.

So long as you are enjoying the sex at the time the comment was made, why would you care ? Just say "You're so right babe!' and keep on . . failing to satisfy your partner, by the sounds of things. More seriously, as many earlier answers have explained, "This has no meaning anymore" implies that "this" used to have meaning and no longer does. The other statement doesn't imply that "this" used to have meaning, nor does it imply that "this" it never did. But to put them in context, if either of these statements are what you're hearing during sex, it means you're about to become single.

i.e. means "id est" in Latin, or "that is"

e.g. means "exempli gratia" in Latin, or "for the sake of example"

They are commonly interchanged in English, but they are not the same thing.

i.e. is meant more as an explanatory/clarification/definition clause ("in other words"), where as e.g. is meant to provide examples ("for example").

"My favourite thing to cook is Italian (i.e. pasta)." means the only Italian food I like to cook is pasta -- not lasagna or pizza.

"My favourite thing to cook is Italian (e.g. pasta, lasagna, pizza)." means I like to cook Italian food in general, and here are some examples.

When faced with the choice of which to use in a sentence, ask yourself what you are trying to say -- are you trying to define/clarify what you meant or give examples? When you get to the point of the sentence where you need to put one or the other in, try saying "for example" or "in other words" followed by what you want to say and see which one is a better fit.

*In Latin, "eg, ég, .eg, eg., EG, Eg, -eg-, eg- and originally ex. gr." (exempli gratia) means "for example." In an english sentence it is used to introduce an example or list of examples to illustrate what is being discussed.

EXAMPLE: Asia is a large continent, with many large nations (e.g. China, India, and Japan).

__________________________________________________________

*In Latin i.e., an abbreviation of (id est) means "that is; in other words; that is to say."

EXAMPLE: The three U.S. states on the west coast (i.e. Washington, Oregon, and California) have favorable climates.

NOTE: These sound like they could be interchangable but to say [I saw Jasmyn today -- eg, I saw Jenny with a tall, long-haired girl, so I assumed it was Jasmyn.] would be incorrect. It should be i.e. instead of eg to make this sentence correct and sensible.

Replace "i.e." with "in other words" and "e.g." with "for example" and you'll understand the meanings, and never confuse them again!

OH MY GOSH!

I have no idea, so I'm not going to be very helpful, but that bugs me too!! SO much!

I use it almost every day here at work, and I'm like...well, okay, I can just pretend like I know what it actually means...

But the way I see it is like this:

"e.g." is like saying "a.k.a" (also known as), or when you're going to list an example:

'Accordian Style Portfolio (e.g. Expandable File)'

And "i.e" is like, when you're going to list a similar situation.

It's like "for instance", or when you're trying to explain a situation that may be unclear at first.

'I color coded the binders and folders to the best of my ability with the type of binders we have. (i.e. we do not carry a regular green-colored binder, so durable had to be quoted.)'

P.S. those were real life examples of things I just typed here at work, haha.

Hope that helped in some odd way! lol. Good luck

i.e = That is

e.g = example

quick wiki check ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases...

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i.e. means " THAT IS " where as e.g. means "EXAMPLE"!