cf.
/kəmˈpɛɚ ˌwɪθ/
"cf" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cf.” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 3
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Compare; compare to; compare with.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cf · cf. · English
cf. · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-0 0 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cf. |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kəmˈpɛɚ ˌwɪθ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cf.” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cf. is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /kəmˈpɛɚ ˌwɪθ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for cf., and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Abbreviation of Latin cōnfer (“compare”), imperative of cōnferō (“to compare”). The correct English form is cf., spelled C-F-..
Definition
- 1Compare; compare to; compare with.
- 2See; see also.
Etymology
Abbreviation of Latin cōnfer (“compare”), imperative of cōnferō (“to compare”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.