ET
Abbreviation with 10 meanings
| Stands for | Eastern Time |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 10 |
| Categories | Units & Measurements, Science & Engineering, Transportation & Travel, Medical, Geography & Places, Military, Sports |
| Also written | Et |
ET has ten meanings. The most common are Eastern Time (time zone) and Extraterrestrial (astronomy & Space); it can also stand for Ethiopian Airlines, Essential thrombocythemia, Essential tremor, Ethiopia and Ethyl group, plus 3 more listed below.
Meanings of ET at a glance
| # | ET stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Time | Units & Measurements › Time Zone |
| 2 | Extraterrestrial | Science & Engineering › Astronomy & Space |
| 3 | Ethiopian Airlines | Transportation & Travel › Airline Code |
| 4 | Essential thrombocythemia | Medical › Hematology and Oncology |
| 5 | Essential tremor | Medical › Neurology |
| 6 | Ethiopia | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 7 | Ethyl group | Science & Engineering › Chemistry |
| 8 | Electronics Technician | Military › US Navy and Coast Guard Rating |
| 9 | Extra time | Sports › Soccer (Association Football) |
| 10 | Endotracheal | Medical › Medication Route |
1. Eastern Time
Units & Measurements · Time Zone Abbreviations
Generic label for the time in the US Eastern Time Zone, covering both Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5) and Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4). TV schedules, event listings and corporate announcements use it to avoid specifying which applies.
Example: The live stream begins at 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT.
Nearly half of the US population lives in the Eastern zone, including New York, Washington, Atlanta and Miami, which is why national broadcasts list ET first. Ontario and Quebec in Canada follow the same clock. Writing ET avoids the common mistake of saying EST in summer.
2. Extraterrestrial
Science & Engineering · Astronomy & Space Abbreviations
Being, life form or object originating beyond Earth; in everyday use, an alien. Scientists searching for life elsewhere speak of extraterrestrial life and ET intelligence, while popular culture borrowed the term from Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Example: Astrobiologists say the first ET life we find will most likely be microbial.
The film, written with periods as E.T., was the highest-grossing film of all time until Jurassic Park in 1993. In chemistry Et is the ethyl group, and in time zones ET means Eastern Time. The adjective extraterrestrial also describes meteorites and other non-living material from space.
3. Ethiopian Airlines
Transportation & Travel · Airline Code Abbreviations
Africa's largest airline, based at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and a member of Star Alliance. Its network covers more African destinations than any other carrier.
Example: ET 509 from Washington connects in Addis Ababa to almost every African capital.
ICAO code ETH; callsign "Ethiopian." Founded in 1945 with help from TWA. Ethiopian Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashed in March 2019, leading to the worldwide grounding of the type. The airline remains profitable and state-owned.
4. Essential thrombocythemia
Medical · Hematology and Oncology Abbreviations
Myeloproliferative neoplasm in which the bone marrow produces too many platelets, with a count of 450,000 per microliter or more. It can cause clots, bleeding, headaches and burning pain in the hands and feet, though many patients have no symptoms.
Example: ET with CALR mutation, platelets 1.1 million and nosebleeds; acquired von Willebrand syndrome on testing.
About half of patients have a JAK2 mutation, about a quarter CALR and a few percent MPL; the remainder are "triple-negative." Very high platelet counts can paradoxically cause bleeding by depleting von Willebrand factor. Treatment includes aspirin for most and hydroxyurea or anagrelide for high-risk patients. Reactive causes such as iron deficiency, infection and inflammation must be excluded. In neurology ET means essential tremor.
5. Essential tremor
Medical · Neurology Abbreviations
Common movement disorder causing rhythmic shaking of the hands and arms during action, such as writing or drinking, and sometimes the head or voice. It is often familial and typically worsens slowly with age.
Example: Bilateral postural and action tremor for 10 years, worse with coffee, improves with a glass of wine: ET.
Unlike Parkinson's tremor, essential tremor appears with posture and movement rather than at rest, and many patients notice improvement after small amounts of alcohol. Propranolol and primidone are first-line drugs. Deep brain stimulation of the thalamus and focused ultrasound thalamotomy, approved by the FDA in 2016, treat severe cases. In hematology ET means essential thrombocythemia.
6. Ethiopia
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Africa's second most populous country, Ethiopia, has Addis Ababa, seat of the African Union, as its capital. Apart from an Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941 it was never colonized; ETH is the alpha-3 code.
Example: Ethiopian Airlines flights from Addis Ababa list ET as the airline code as well.
ET is also the IATA code of Ethiopian Airlines. The Ethiopian calendar is about seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar. The language code et is Estonian.
7. Ethyl group (Et)
Science & Engineering · Chemistry Abbreviations
Abbreviation for the ethyl group, -CH2CH3, a two-carbon fragment derived from ethane. It forms part of common shorthand such as EtOH (ethanol), Et2O (diethyl ether), EtOAc (ethyl acetate) and Et3N (triethylamine).
Example: Et3N (2.0 equiv) was added to neutralize the HCl released during acylation.
In older literature "ether" alone meant diethyl ether, now written Et2O. The ethyl group takes its name from ethane, itself derived from "ether." Do not confuse Et with ET, which elsewhere means Eastern Time or extraterrestrial.
8. Electronics Technician
Military · US Navy and Coast Guard Rating Abbreviations
Maintainers of shipboard radar, communications, navigation and computer systems. Nuclear-trained electronics technicians (ETN) operate reactor control panels on carriers and submarines, and submarine ETs handle navigation and radio equipment.
Example: ET1 Shah realigned the surface-search radar after the antenna was replaced in port.
ETs need strong ASVAB scores, and the nuclear path is among the longest training pipelines in the Navy. The Coast Guard also has an ET rating. In everyday English, ET usually means Eastern Time or extraterrestrial, so Navy usage nearly always includes a pay grade, as in ET2.
9. Extra time
Sports · Soccer (Association Football) Abbreviations
Two additional 15-minute halves played in knockout matches tied after 90 minutes. If still level, the match is usually decided by a penalty shootout.
Example: The tie went to ET after a stoppage-time equalizer.
From 1993 to 2004 FIFA experimented with the "golden goal", which ended extra time at the first goal, and briefly the "silver goal". Some competitions, such as the FA Cup early rounds, have scrapped replays and extra time in favor of immediate penalties. In US time zones ET means Eastern Time.
10. Endotracheal
Medical · Medication Route Abbreviations
Route for giving certain emergency drugs down an endotracheal tube when no IV or IO access is available. Lipid-soluble drugs remembered by the mnemonic NAVEL (naloxone, atropine, vasopressin, epinephrine, lidocaine) can be absorbed by the lungs.
Example: Epinephrine 2 mg ET diluted in 10 mL saline given via tube during the code.
Endotracheal doses are typically 2 to 2.5 times the IV dose, and absorption is unreliable, so current resuscitation guidelines prefer IV or IO access. Surfactant for premature newborns is also given via the endotracheal tube. ET also abbreviates endotracheal tube itself (often ETT) and essential tremor.
Related abbreviations
More time zone abbreviations
- EDT – Eastern Daylight Time
- EEST – Eastern European Summer Time
- EET – Eastern European Time
- EST – Eastern Standard Time
- GMT – Greenwich Mean Time
- GST – Gulf Standard Time
- HKT – Hong Kong Time
- HST – Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time
See all 64 time zone abbreviations →
More astronomy & Space abbreviations
- EHT – Event Horizon Telescope
- ELT – Extremely Large Telescope
- ESA – European Space Agency
- ESO – European Southern Observatory
- EVA – Extravehicular activity
- FAST – Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope
- FRB – Fast radio burst
- GEO – Geostationary orbit
See all 83 astronomy & Space abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.