Studies of unexcited and excited elliptic jets reveal their characteristics to be noticeably different from circular jets, suggesting applications of excited elliptic jets for enhanced mixing and chemical reaction, and control of aerodynamic noise. The near‐field turbulence characteristics, jet spread, and locations of switching of major and minor axes of the jet cross section can be drastically altered by forcing. The preferred mode and the stable pairing mode of an elliptic jet scale with the exit equivalent diameter.