Wiktionary

if

See also: -if, IF, and yif

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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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

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

Conjunction

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if

  1. Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false.
    If it rains, I'll get wet.
    I'll do it next week, if I have time.
    Fetch me a cold beer if there's one in the fridge.
    1. (computing) A keyword that invokes conditional processing: in the event that a given condition is true, execute the given statement(s) (otherwise execute other statements).
      if A then B else C.
  2. Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive to indicate a counterfactual or hypothetical condition.
    If she hadn't told me, I wouldn't know.
    If I were you, I wouldn't go there alone.
    If the Moon were made of cheese, astronauts would never need to go hungry.
  3. Considering the fact that; given that.
    The drain's blocked — and if the drain's blocked, the water won't flow.
  4. Although; used to introduce a concession.
    • 1981 April 11, Mitzel, “Kopacz Acquitted In Barbre Killing”, in Gay Community News, page 1:
      Both Spear & Davis were indicted in the witchhunt surrounding the sensational (if nonexistent) "Revere sex ring."
    He was a great friend, if a little stingy at the bar.
    She won her team's admiration, if not the award, for her performance.
  5. (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 […]
  6. (usually hyperbolic) Even if; even in the circumstances that.
    I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth.
    • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
      “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.
  7. Introducing a relevance conditional.
    I have leftover cake if you want some.

Usage notes

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  • 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 forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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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

Noun

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if (plural ifs)

  1. (informal) An uncertainty, possibility, condition, doubt etc.
    The board can't approve this project; there are too many ifs.
    • 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 terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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  • “if”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French if, from Old French if, from northern Vulgar Latin *ivus (“yew tree”), from either Proto-Celtic *iwos or Proto-Germanic *īhwaz, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-. Cognate with Breton ivin, Welsh ywen, Old Irish eó (in Celtic), English yew, Dutch ijf, German Low German Iev, German Eibe (in Germanic), and further with Russian ива (iva) etc.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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if m (plural ifs)

  1. yew

Further reading

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Japanese

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Alternative spelling
IF

Etymology

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From English if (as in what if).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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if(イフ) • (ifu) 

  1. "what-if" alternative history (real-life) / events (fictional)
    Synonyms: もし (moshi), もしも (moshimo)
    IF(イフ)ルート
    ifu rūto
    a what-if scenario / storyline
    IF(イフ)ストーリー
    ifu sutōrī
    a what-if story
    歴(れき)史(し)のif(イフ)を想(そう)像(ぞう)する
    rekishi no ifu o sōzō suru
    to imagine a what-if in a history

Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Conjunction

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if

  1. if, on condition that

Descendants

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

References

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Norman

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Etymology

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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

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if m (plural ifs)

  1. (Jersey) yew

Old French

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Etymology

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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

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

  1. yew
  2. yew wood

Descendants

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

Volapük

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English if.

Conjunction

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if

  1. if
    • 1932, Arie de Jong, Leerboek der Wereldtaal, page 19:
      If laboböv moni, remoböv ole buki at.
      If I had money, I would buy this book.
    • 1952, Arie de Jong, Diatek nulik: Gospul ma ‚Matthaeus’. Kapit: V:
      Binols sal taleda; ab if sal vedonöv nensmelik, me kin osalöfükoy üfo?
      You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again?

Yola

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Conjunction

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if

  1. Alternative form of yith
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 52:
      Thou leeesth if thou wasth Saan Vinteen, an Saan Vinteen agyne.
      Thou liest if thou wast St. Finton, and St. Finton again.
    • 1867, “JAMEEN QOUGEELY EE-PEALTHE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 110, lines 5-6:
      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

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  • 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
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