if

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.

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 A then B else C

(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 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.

Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive to indicate a counterfactual or hypothetical condition.

I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth.

“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.”

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:

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.

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)

(usually hyperbolic) Even if; even in the circumstances that.

The drain's blocked — and if the drain's blocked, the water won't flow.

O what of Gods then boots it to be borne, / If old Aveugles ſonnes ſo euill heare?

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:

Considering the fact that; given that; introducing a condition that is known to be true.

If you heat water to 100° C, it boils.

If it rains, it pours.

Both Spear & Davis were indicted in the witchhunt surrounding the sensational (if nonexistent) "Revere sex ring."

1981 April 11, Mitzel, “Kopacz Acquitted In Barbre Killing”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

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.

Although; used to introduce a concession.

I don't know if I want to go or not.

Quoth Matthew, “ […] / She doubts if two and two make four, / […] ”

1715–1717, Matthew Prior, Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind, Canto III

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 […]

1976, Michael Harrison, Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology, page 117:

(sometimes proscribed) Whether; used to introduce a noun clause, an indirect question, that functions as the direct object of certain verbs.

I have leftover cake if you want some.

relevance conditional
relevance conditional#English

I wouldn't piss on someone if they were on fire

one's damned if one does and one's damned if one doesn't

would lose one's head if it wasn't bolted on

would lose one's head if it wasn't glued on

would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on

would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on

would lose one's head if it wasn't tied on

would lose one's head if it weren't attached

যদিও

although; used to introduce a concession

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”).

gloss

"if; whether"; > German Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="nds-de">of</i>


if

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?

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, […]

1791 January, “Richardſon’s Chemical Principles of the Metallic Arts”, in The Monthly Review, R. Griffiths, page 176:

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.

2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times:

(informal) An uncertainty, possibility, condition, doubt etc.


if

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.


if

IFルート

IFストーリー

歴史のifを想像する

"what-if" alternative history (real-life) / events (fictional)

bor

as in <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">what if</i>


if

English: if, yif

Scots: gif, gyf, gin

Yola: yith, if

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


if

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.


if

fro-noun

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

if oblique singular or (canonical feminine)
is (oblique plural)
if (nominative singular)
is (nominative plural)

Middle French: if

French: if

Norman: 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.


if

If laboböv moni, remoböv ole buki at.

1932, Arie de Jong, Leerboek der Wereldtaal, page 19:

Binols sal taleda; ab if sal vedonöv nensmelik, me kin osalöfükoy üfo?

1952, Arie de Jong, Diatek nulik: Gospul ma ‚Matthaeus’. Kapit: V:

You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again?


if

Thou leeesth if thou wasth Saan Vinteen, an Saan Vinteen agyne.

1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 52:

Thou liest if thou wast St. Finton, and St. Finton again.

If ich hadh Peeougheen a Buch, Meyleare a Slut, Peedher Ghiel-laaune, an Jackeen Bugaaune,

1867, “JAMEEN QOUGEELY EE-PEALTHE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 110, lines 5-6:

If I had Hugh the Buck, Meyler the Sloven, Peter the Smart Man, and John Boggan,