iffy

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɪfi/ UK /ˈɪfi/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
uncertain, doubtful, or of questionable quality

The weather looks a bit iffy for the picnic tomorrow.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · uncertain, doubtful, or of... uncertain doubtful questionable dubious dodgy chancy unreliable

Opposites

certain sure reliable dependable

Word family

Derived forms iffiness

Etymology

An early-20th-century American coinage from the conjunction if + -y, meaning 'full of ifs, conditional, uncertain'.

gif Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# iffy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈɪfi
**IPA (UK):** ˈɪfi

## Meanings
1. uncertain, doubtful, or of questionable quality

## Examples
- The weather looks a bit iffy for the picnic tomorrow.

## Synonyms
- uncertain
- doubtful
- questionable
- dubious
- dodgy
- chancy
- unreliable

## Antonyms
- certain
- sure
- reliable
- dependable

## Derived Forms
- iffiness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: gif

## Etymology
An early-20th-century American coinage from the conjunction if + -y, meaning 'full of ifs, conditional, uncertain'.

## AI Etymology
iffy has the recorded history: An early-20th-century American coinage from the conjunction if + -y, meaning 'full of ifs, conditional, uncertain'. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. The etymology remains cautious where the history is cautious: comparisons, echoic formation, or disputed derivation do not make the ancestry more definite than the forms actually named. In present English, the adjective sense is "uncertain, doubtful, or of questionable quality", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also remains productive in derivatives such as iffiness. Its semantic neighborhood includes uncertain, doubtful, questionable, and dubious, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old English gif.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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