if
English
Etymology
From Middle English if, yif, yef, from Old English ġif (“if”), from Proto-West Germanic *jabu, *jabē, from Proto-Germanic *jabai (“when, if”). Cognate with Scots gif (“if, whether”), Saterland Frisian af, of (“if, whether”), West Frisian oft (“whether”), Dutch of (“or, whether, but”), Middle Low German ef, if, af, of ("if; whether"; > German Low German of), German ob (“if, whether”), Icelandic ef (“if”).
Pronunciation
Conjunction
if
- Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; used to introduce a condition or choice.
- If it rains, I shall get wet.
- I'll do it next year —if at all.
- (computing) In the event that a statement is true (a programming statement that acts in a similar manner).
- If A, then B, else C.
- Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive indicating that the condition is closed.
- I would prefer it if you took your shoes off.
- I would be unhappy if you had not talked with me yesterday.
- If I were you, I wouldn't go there alone.
- Supposing that; given that; supposing it is the case that.
- If that's true, we had better get moving!
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part I (books I–III), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza ii, page 66:
- O what of Gods then boots it to be borne, / If old Aveugles ſonnes ſo euill heare?
- Although; used to introduce a concession.
- He was a great friend, if a little stingy at the bar.
- She won her team's admiration, if not its award, for her performance.
- (sometimes proscribed) Whether; used to introduce a noun clause, an indirect question, that functions as the direct object of certain verbs.
- I don't know if I want to go or not.
- 1715–1717, Matthew Prior, Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind, Canto III:
- Quoth Matthew, “ […] / She doubts if two and two make four, / […] ”
- 1813, Jane Austen, chapter 7, in Pride and Prejudice:
- The former was divided between admiration of the brilliancy which exercices had given to her complexion, and doubt as to (if) occasion's justifying her coming so far alone.
- 1976, Michael Harrison, Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology, page 117:
- It is doubtful if the Victorian Londoner needed any warning, for the artful mobsmen, toolers, whizzers and dippers, together with their stickman accomplices, were everywhere in the crowds, in the underground, on railway trains […]
- (usually hyperbolic) Even if; even in the circumstances that.
- 1837-39, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
- “Wait a minute!” said the girl: “I wouldn’t hurry by, if it was you that was coming out to be hung, the next time eight o’clock struck, Bill. I’d walk round and round the place till I dropped, if the snow was on the ground, and I hadn’t a shawl to cover me.”
- 2004, David Lee Murphy and Kim Tribble (writers), Montgomery Gentry (singers), “If It’s The Last Thing I Do” (song), in You Do Your Thing (album):
- If it’s the last thing I do / If it takes me from Tubilo to Timbuktu / If it’s the last thing I do / I’m gonna dodge every road block, speed trap, county cop / To get my hands on you / If it’s the last thing I do.
- 1837-39, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
- Introducing a relevance conditional.
- I have leftover cake if you want some.
Usage notes
- Specifically a subordinating conjunction.
- Some usage critics recommend that if not be used to mean whether, since the distinction can remove ambiguity, as in the following example:
- Tell me if you can see her. (if the addressee can see her, then he or she must let the speaker know)
- Tell me whether you can see her. (the speaker wants to know which instance is true: either the addressee's ability or inability to see her)
- This distinction is further encouraged because, traditionally, if cannot always be used in place of whether. For instance, if the noun clause acts as the subject of the sentence or an object of a preposition, the word is usually whether. Examples:
- We like to talk about whether classical music is better than jazz.
- Whether you like today’s weather does not matter.
- Another difference between if and whether is with the use of or not.
- The sentences I don't know whether or not I passed or I don't know whether I passed or not are both correct
- The sentence I don't know if I passed or not is correct, but
I don't know if or not I passedis incorrect
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
Noun
if (plural ifs)
- (informal) An uncertainty, possibility, condition, doubt etc.
- 1709, Susannah Centlivre, The Busy Body, Act III, in John Bell (ed.), British Theater, J. Bell (1791), page 59,
- Sir Fran. Nay, but Chargy, if——— ¶ Miran. Nay, Gardy, no Ifs.——Have I refus'd three northern lords, two British peers, and half a score knights, to have put in your Ifs?
- 1791 January, “Richardſon’s Chemical Principles of the Metallic Arts”, in The Monthly Review, R. Griffiths, page 176:
- Well might Bergman add, (in his Sciographia,), “if the compariſon that has been made, &c. be juſt.” The preſent writer makes no ifs about the matter, and has ſuperadded a little inaccuracy of his own, […]
- 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times[1]:
- Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat.
- 1709, Susannah Centlivre, The Busy Body, Act III, in John Bell (ed.), British Theater, J. Bell (1791), page 59,
Derived terms
Translations
|
See also
Further reading
- “if”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French if, from Old French if, from either Frankish *īw (from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz) or Gaulish *iwos (“yew, yew tree”) via Vulgar Latin *ivus (from Proto-Celtic *iwos, compare Breton ivin, Old Irish eó, Welsh ywen); in either case from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-. See yew for more.
Pronunciation
Noun
if m (plural ifs)
Further reading
- “if”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Japanese
Alternative spelling |
---|
IF |
Etymology
From English if (as in what if).
Pronunciation
Noun
- "what-if" alternative history (real-life) / events (fictional)
Synonyms
- アナザー (anazā, literally “another”)
References
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English ġif, from Proto-West Germanic *jabē, *jabu, from Proto-Germanic *jabai.
Pronunciation
Conjunction
if
Descendants
References
- “if, conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norman
Etymology
From Old French if, from either Frankish *īw (from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz) or Gaulish *iwos (“yew, yew tree”) (from Proto-Celtic *iwos, compare Breton ivin, Old Irish eó, Welsh ywen); in either case from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-. See yew for more.
Noun
if m (plural ifs)
Old French
Etymology
From either Frankish *īw (from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz) or Gaulish *iwos (“yew, yew tree”) (from Proto-Celtic *iwos, compare Breton ivin, Old Irish eó, Welsh ywen); in either case from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-. See yew for more.
Noun
if oblique singular, f (oblique plural is, nominative singular if, nominative plural is)
- yew
- yew wood
Descendants
Volapük
Etymology
Conjunction
if
Yola
Conjunction
if
- Alternative form of yith
- 1867, “JAMEEN QOUGEELY EE-PEALTHE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, line 5:
- If ich hadh Peeougheen a Buch, Meyleare a Slut, Peedher Ghiel-laaune, an Jackeen Bugaaune,
- If I had Hugh the Buck, Meyler the Sloven, Peter the Smart Man, and John Boggan,
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 110
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪf
- Rhymes:English/ɪf/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English conjunctions
- en:Computing
- English terms with quotations
- English proscribed terms
- English hyperboles
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English informal terms
- English subordinating conjunctions
- English two-letter words
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Frankish
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms derived from Gaulish
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Conifers
- fr:Trees
- Japanese terms borrowed from English
- Japanese terms derived from English
- Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Japanese lemmas
- Japanese nouns
- Japanese terms with usage examples
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English conjunctions
- Norman terms inherited from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Frankish
- Norman terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Norman terms derived from Gaulish
- Norman terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Norman terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Norman lemmas
- Norman nouns
- Norman masculine nouns
- Jersey Norman
- nrf:Trees
- Old French terms derived from Frankish
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old French terms derived from Gaulish
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns
- Volapük terms borrowed from English
- Volapük terms derived from English
- Volapük lemmas
- Volapük conjunctions
- Yola lemmas
- Yola conjunctions
- Yola terms with quotations