Wiktionary

if

See also: -if, IF, and yif

EnglishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

EtymologyEdit

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”).

PronunciationEdit

  • enPR: ĭf, IPA(key): /ɪf/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪf

ConjunctionEdit

if

  1. 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.
  2. (computing) In the event that a statement is true (a programming statement that acts in a similar manner).
    If A, then B, else C.
  3. 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.
  4. Supposing that; given that; supposing it is the case that.
    If that's true, we had better get moving!
  5. 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.
  6. (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, / […] ”
    • 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 […]
  7. (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.
  8. Introducing a relevance conditional.
    I have leftover cake if you want some.

Usage notesEdit

  • 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 passed is incorrect

Alternative formsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

NounEdit

if (plural ifs)

  1. (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.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • if at OneLook Dictionary Search

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

if m (plural ifs)

  1. yew

Further readingEdit

JapaneseEdit

Alternative spelling
IF

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English if (as in what if).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

if(イフ) • (ifu) 

  1. "what-if" alternative history (real-life) / events (fictional)
    IF(イフ)ルート
    ifu rūto
    (please add an English translation of this example)
    IF(イフ)ストーリー
    ifu sutōrī
    (please add an English translation of this example)
    歴(れき)史(し)のif(イフ)を想(そう)像(ぞう)する
    rekishi no ifu o sōzō suru
    (please add an English translation of this example)

SynonymsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old English ġif, from Proto-West Germanic *jabē, *jabu, from Proto-Germanic *jabai.

PronunciationEdit

ConjunctionEdit

if

  1. if, on condition that

DescendantsEdit

  • English: if, yif
  • Scots: gif, gyf
  • Yola: yith, if

ReferencesEdit

NormanEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

NounEdit

if m (plural ifs)

  1. (Jersey) yew

Old FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

NounEdit

if f (oblique plural is, nominative singular if, nominative plural is)

  1. yew
  2. yew wood

DescendantsEdit

  • Middle French: if
    • French: if
  • Norman: if

VolapükEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English if.

ConjunctionEdit

if

  1. if

YolaEdit

ConjunctionEdit

if

  1. 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,

ReferencesEdit

  • Jacob Poole (1867), 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, page 110
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