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# cf

abbreviation (cf. — written only)

«cf» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

(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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#m1)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#x1)
- The text says "cf. chapter 3" so I turned to chapter 3. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#x2)
- The dictionary wrote "cf. affect" next to "effect". [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#x3)
- In the notes it said: warm-blooded, cf. cold-blooded. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#x4)
- Cf. means "compare", not "see also" exactly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#x5)
- The teacher wrote "cf. last week's poem" on the board. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/#x6)

### 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).

## In Jewish tradition

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

- In the Bahir, the Thirty-Two Ways are associated with the gematria value of לֵב lev ‘heart’ (\[Bahir 63\], \[Bahir 95\] inter alia cf. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cf/#x1)
- On one level, it refers to the individual person or creature, i.e., ‘that which has breath’, similar to the term נְשָׁמָה neshamah (cf. \[Psalm 150:6\]), and might be translated ‘person, individual, being’. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cf/#x2)
- Most literally, it means ‘waste(land)’, the lifeless open desert, a translation of \[Genesis 1:2\] so far captured in English only by Robert Alter’s The Hebrew Bible (2019), who poetically renders תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ tohu vavohu as “waste and welter”; cf. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cf/#x3)

### 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).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cf» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cf/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cf» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cf.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «cf» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cf/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cf» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/cf.html) on Mova free.