if

English Online Dictionary. What means if‎? What does if mean?

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

• enPR: ĭf, IPA^(key): /ɪf/
• Rhymes: -ɪf

Conjunction

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).

3. Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive indicating that the condition is closed.

4. Supposing that; given that; supposing it is the case that.
5. Although; used to introduce a concession.

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, / […] ”
7. (usually hyperbolic) Even if; even in the circumstances that.
   • 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 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 passed is incorrect

Alternative forms

• eef (representing various accents)
• ifen, iffen, if'n (dialectal)

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

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?

Derived terms

• big if
• ifs and ans
• no ifs, ands, or buts
• small if

Translations

See also

• and
• else
• false
• or
• then
• true
• whether

Further reading

• “if”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• FI, Fi, fi

French

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /if/

Noun

if m (plural ifs)

1. yew

Further reading

• “if”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Japanese

Etymology

From English if (as in what if).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) イフ [íꜜfù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [iɸɯ̟]

Noun

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

• アナザー (anazā, literally “another”)

References

Middle English

Alternative forms

• yif, yef

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /if/, /jif/

Conjunction

if

1. if, on condition that

Descendants

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

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)

1. (Jersey) yew

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)

1. yew
2. yew wood

Descendants

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

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from English if.

Conjunction

if

1. if

Yola

Conjunction

if

1. Alternative form of yith

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