pronouns - Is "iff" considered a real word or just an abbreviation?


I wonder if "iff" is considered a real word (as LEO says) or is it just an abbreviation (as in Wiktionary)?



Answer



I would count it as jargon and I'd never use it in prose. It's a programming/maths term meaning if and only if and should be restricted to circles where it's likely to be understood (edit like XKCD ).


The question of whether it's an abbreviation is interesting. It's obviously shorter than "if and only if" but I think I'd say it was a more of a symbol. Perhaps that's my programming background coming out [where symbol has a particular meaning (see number 2 here)]. However as it consists of more than one recognisable letter, it might be better to say it's an abbreviation


Here's an Ngram which shows that iff has become more popular recently, corresponding to the increase in computing. That may explain the increase in "if and only if" as well. I have no idea whether the incidence around 1800 is simply an alternative spelling of if or whether that actually meant "if and only if".


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