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Cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
-derived (but also modern English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult", and is hence used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide auxiliary information or arguments. It is mainly used in scholarly or educated contexts, such as in academic (mainly humanities) or legal texts.

It is sometimes used (primarily in dictionaries) to imply insight into the preceding word's etymology
Etymology

Etymology is the study of the roots and history of words; and how their form and meaning have changed over time.In languages with a long detailed history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of how words change from culture to culture over time....
, that is, to suggest how one term obtained its particular naming convention (perhaps from another phrase).






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Cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
-derived (but also modern English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult", and is hence used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide auxiliary information or arguments. It is mainly used in scholarly or educated contexts, such as in academic (mainly humanities) or legal texts.

It is sometimes used (primarily in dictionaries) to imply insight into the preceding word's etymology
Etymology

Etymology is the study of the roots and history of words; and how their form and meaning have changed over time.In languages with a long detailed history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of how words change from culture to culture over time....
, that is, to suggest how one term obtained its particular naming convention (perhaps from another phrase). For example, the phrase "Big Whack (cf. Big Bang
Big Bang

The Big Bang is the physical cosmology model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific method and observation....
)" suggests to the reader that the nickname "Big Whack" is derived from the name "Big Bang".

In the system of binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature

In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is called binominal nomenclature , binary nomenclature , or the binomial classification system....
, the use of "cf." similarly used to indicate that the species needs to be seen in context of its comparison to another, but by definition is not confirmed as the same. For example "Corvus cf. splendens" indicates "a bird similar to the House Crow
House Crow

The House Crow , also known as the Colombo Crow is a common Asian bird of the Corvidae. It is between the Jackdaw and the Carrion Crow in size but is relatively slimmer than either....
 but not certainly identified as this species". For this reason many mistakenly believe that "cf." is an abbreviated form of "confirmed" or "inconfirmatus".

Correctly formatted, the abbreviation has a single period after it (that is, not "c.f.") because it represents a shortening of the single word confer, and, as a foreign word, may be set in italics, depending on the style manual or house style. Use of italics for abbreviations of foreign words and phrases has become less common in modern usage, especially for such common abbreviations as cf., e.g., i.e., and viz.

See also

  • List of Latin abbreviations
    List of Latin abbreviations

    Latin was once the universal academic language in Europe. From the eighteenth century authors started using their mother tongue to write books, papers or proceedings....
  • Citation signal
    Citation signal

    Legal citationIntroductory signals are used in legal citations to present authorities and show how the authorities relate to propositions in textual statements....