English

if

/ɪf/
Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false.

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    Origin

    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”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishif
      • inheritedOld Englishġif “if”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*jabu
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*jabai “when, if”

    Related: Scots gif, Saterland Frisian af, West Frisian oft, Dutch of, Middle Low German ef, German Low German of, German ob, Icelandic ef

    Words built on it: as if, if that's not, if it isn't

    Sources