cf

«cf» in Mova's school dictionary: Short for the Latin word «confer», meaning «compare»; it… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

abbreviation (cf. — written only)

meaning for a pupil

(formal, writing) Short for the Latin word «confer», meaning «compare»; it tells the reader to look at another thing and compare it with this one. tree →

sense in the lessons

It appears in dictionaries, textbooks and notes, often in brackets: «(cf. page 12)». It tells the reader: look at this other example too, it is similar or different in a useful way. Children mostly meet it in reference books. It is not said aloud as a word; people say «compare».

examples

• Rabbit (cf. hare) is a smaller animal with shorter ears. tree →
• The text says "cf. chapter 3" so I turned to chapter 3. tree →
• The dictionary wrote "cf. affect" next to "effect". tree →
• In the notes it said: warm-blooded, cf. cold-blooded. tree →
• Cf. means "compare", not "see also" exactly. tree →
• The teacher wrote "cf. last week's poem" on the board. tree →

note

An abbreviation, not a word: written «cf.» with a full stop (period), often in lower case. Say it as «compare» when reading aloud. It is different from «e.g.» (for example) and «i.e.» (that is). It is not a short form of «confer» in its modern English meaning (to talk together or give an award).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «cf» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.