Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
conj
If.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Southern-US, dialectal
Qualifier: South Midland US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
contraction
Contraction of if and when.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, archaic, contraction
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Uncertain. The spelling ef'n is attested since at least 1909. Perhaps a compound of if and an (“if”) (a variant, attested since Middle English, of and (“if”); compare an if and gin (“if”)); if an is attested since at least the 1700s. Alternatively, perhaps a compound of if and -in', generalized from conjunctional uses of considering, excepting, and so on, or of if and -en as in offen (“off”), outen (“out”) (which goes back to Old English ūtan), etc. Compare less'n. Lastly, as with the etymology above, it may be a contraction of if (and) when.
From if + and (when).
