Why does i.e mean that is? [closed]

Question

I learned that i.e means :

that is or in other words

but how does this make sense? shouldn't it be: t.i in this case?

Answer 1

It's Latin, not English.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_(I) where you can see that it's short for "id est".

By the way, the proper way to write abbreviations is with periods after each letter, i.e. "i.e.".

Answer 2

The letters "i.e." are an abbreviation of the Latin phrase id est, which can be directly translated as "that is." The alternative translation, "in other words," is offered as a more colloquial phrase.