particle N4 common casualpolitewritten

など — and so on / etc.

など

Meaning

① and so on: ~ and so on / ~ etc. / things like ~ — marks the listed item(s) as examples, not a complete set

② belittling / dismissive: (the likes of) ~ / ~ of all things — downplays or dismisses the marked item, often modestly or scornfully

など primarily flags the listed item as just an example ('…and so on'). The same particle can also belittle — attached to oneself it's humble (私わたしなど), attached to others or a thing it can be dismissive (〜など要いらない). Tone and context decide which. 〜なんか / 〜なんて are its more colloquial variants.

Key sentence

① and so on

果物くだもの、特とくにりんごやみかんなどが好すきだ。

I like fruit, especially apples, oranges, and so on.

② belittling / dismissive

私わたしなどにはもったいないです。

It's wasted on someone like me.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Nouns (often after a や list); also after verbs in writing	(N や) N など / 〜たりなど	コーヒーや紅茶こうちゃなど / 心配しんぱいなどしない

Examples

① and so on

辞書じしょやノートなどを持もってきてください。

Please bring a dictionary, notebook, and the like.

東京とうきょうや大阪おおさかなどの大都市だいとし。

Big cities such as Tokyo and Osaka.

② belittling / dismissive

お礼れいなど要いりませんよ。

There's no need for thanks or anything.

君きみの助たすけなど要いらない。

I don't need help from the likes of you.

Easily confused with

や They team up: や opens a representative noun list, など closes it with 'and so on'. や joins the items; など labels the whole list as non-exhaustive. とか Both say 'examples, not the full set', but とか is casual/spoken; など is more neutral-to-formal and is the standard choice in writing.

Notes

Colloquial なんか and emphatic なんて share the belittling/example function: お金かねなんかいらない ('I don't need money or anything').

See など in real sentences

Jengo shows など the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

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