op. cit.
Writing & Everyday abbreviation · Latin
| Stands for | Opere citato (in the work cited) |
|---|---|
| Categories | Writing & Everyday |
op. cit. stands for Opere citato (in the work cited), a Latin abbreviation.
Points to a work already cited in full in an earlier note, combined with the author's name and a new page number. It belongs to traditional footnote systems in history, literature and older scholarship.
Example: Footnote 9 reads "Hobsbawm, op. cit., p. 88," so the reader must hunt back for the first full citation.
Usage notes
Chicago, MLA and APA now discourage op. cit. because it forces readers to search back through earlier notes; a short-title citation is preferred. It becomes ambiguous when more than one work by the same author has been cited. The phrase is the ablative of opus citatum, and it is normally set in roman type.
Related abbreviations
More Latin abbreviations
- Id. – Idem (the same)
- inst. – Instante mense (this month)
- loc. cit. – Loco citato (in the place cited)
- M.O. – Modus operandi (method of operating)
- N.B. – Nota bene (note well)
- nem. con. – Nemine contradicente (with no one dissenting)
- p.a. – Per annum (per year)
- p.m. – Post meridiem (after midday)
- p.p. – Per procurationem (by agency, on behalf of)
- P.P.S. – Post-post-scriptum (a second postscript)
- P.S. – Post scriptum (postscript)
- pinx. – Pinxit (painted it)