や〜など
Non-exhaustive listing (things like…, and so on)machine translation
FormationNoun + や + Noun (+ など)
や joins nouns in a NON-exhaustive list — naming just a few representative items among many: 本やペン (books, pens, and other things). At the end of the list you can add など ("and so on") to make this even clearer: 卵や牛乳など.
Compare with と: パンと卵 means exactly those two things; パンや卵 means there is bread, eggs, and possibly other things too.
や is only used with nouns. To list actions non-exhaustively, Japanese uses the pattern 〜たり〜たりする.
Examples
机の上に本やペンがあります。
On the desk there are books, pens, and other things.
冷蔵庫に卵や牛乳などがあります。
In the refrigerator there are eggs, milk, and so on.
休みの日は掃除や洗濯をします。
On my days off I clean, do laundry, and do various other things.