different between when vs for

English

Alternative forms

• wen (eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English when(ne), whanne, from Old English hwenne, hwænne, hwonne (“when”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwan, from Proto-Germanic *hwan (“at what time, when”), from Proto-Indo-European *k?is (“interrogative base”).

Cognate with Dutch wanneer (“when”) and wen (“when, if”), Low German wannehr (“when”), wann (“when”) and wenn (“if, when”), German wann (“when”) and wenn (“when, if”), Gothic ???????????? (?an, “when, how”), Latin quand? (“when”). More at who.

Interjection sense: a playful misunderstanding of "say when" (i.e. say something / speak up when you want me to stop) as "say [the word] when".

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: hw?n, w?n, IPA^(key): /??n/, /w?n/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /??n/, /w?n/
• (Ireland, Scotland) enPR: hw?n, IPA^(key): /??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: w?n, IPA^(key): /w?n/
• (in accents without the wine–whine merger)
• (in accents with the wine–whine merger)
• (in accents with the wine–whine merger)
• Rhymes: -?n
• Homophone: wen (in accents with the wine-whine merger), win (in accents with the wine–whine merger and the pin–pen merger)

Adverb

when (not comparable)

1. (interrogative) At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect questions about time.
   • 1834, Samuel Kirkham, English Grammar in Familiar Lectures, page 117:

     What words are used as interrogative pronouns? — Give examples.

     When are the words, what, which, and that, called adj. pron.?

     When are they called interrogative pronominal adjectives?

2. At an earlier time and under different, usually less favorable, circumstances.

3. (relative) At which, on which, during which: often omitted or replaced with that.

Translations

Conjunction

when

1. At (or as soon as) that time that; at the (or any and every) time that; if.
2. During the time that; at the time of the action of the following clause or participle phrase.
3. At what time; at which time.
   • 1839, John Donne, The Works of John Donne: Sermons, Letters, Poems, page 310:

     I am at London only to provide for Monday, when I shall use that favour which my Lady Bedford hath afforded me, of giving her name to my daughter; which I mention to you, […]

   • 1929, Donald John Munro, The Roaring Forties and After (page 38)

     He sat at the door of his kitchen watching, and seeing there was nothing else for it we buckled to and soon had the job done; when we were admitted to the kitchen and given a really good meal.

4. Since; given the fact that; considering that.

5. Whereas; although; at the same time as; in spite of the fact that.

Synonyms

• (as soon as): as soon as, immediately, once
• (every time that): whenever
• (during the time that): while, whilst; see also Thesaurus:while
• (at any time that): whenever
• (at which time):
• (given the fact that): given that, seeing that; see also Thesaurus:because
• (in spite of the fact that): but, where, whereas

Derived terms

• know someone when
• whenwe

Translations

Pronoun

when

1. (interrogative) What time; which time.
   • 1831 (published), John Davies, Orchestra Or, a Poem of Dancing, in Robert Southey, Select Works of the British Poets: From Chaucer to Jonson, with Biographical Sketches, page 706:

     Homer, to whom the Muses did carouse

     A great deep cup with heav'nly nectar fill'd,

     The greatest, deepest cup in Jove's great house,

     (For Jove himself had so expressly will'd)

     He drank off all, nor let one drop be spill'd;

     Since when, his brain that had before been dry,

     Became the well-spring of all poetry.

   • 1833, William Potts Dewees, A Treatise on the Diseases of Females, page 495:

     [This] we imagined might have been owing to some accidental condition of the system, or perhaps idiosyncracy; this led us to a second trial, but we experienced the same inconveniences, since when, we have altogether abandoned their use.

   • 2012, Emile Letournel, Robert Judet, Fractures of the Acetabulum, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 385:

     So we combined the Kocher-Langenbeck and iliofemoral approach until 1965, since when we have combined the ilioinguinal and Kocher-Langenbeck approaches.

2. The time that.

Translations

Noun

when (plural whens)

1. The time at which something happens.
   • 2008, Paolo Aite, Lanscapes of the Psyche, Ipoc Press (?ISBN), page 151:

     For the moment, suffice it to say that the stories told through the whens and hows of building a scene differentiate individual desires and needs more clearly than shared speech was up to then able to communicate.

Translations

Interjection

when

1. (often humorous) That's enough, a command to stop adding something, especially an ingredient of food or drink -- referring to say when.
2. (obsolete) Expressing impatience. (Compare what.)
   • c. 1600, Sir John Oldcastle, iv. 1:

     Set, parson, set; the dice die in my hand.

     When, parson, when! what, can you find no more?

   • c. 1615-1657, Thomas Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, volume 1:

     Why, when? begin, sir: I must stay your leisure.

Translations

Derived terms

• whenever

See also

• since when

References

• when at OneLook Dictionary Search
• when in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• hewn

Middle English

Etymology 1

Adverb

when

1. Alternative form of whenne

Conjunction

when

1. Alternative form of whenne

Etymology 2

Verb

when

1. Alternative form of winnen (“to win”)

English

Etymology

From Middle English for, from Old English for (“for, on account of, for the sake of, through, because of, owing to, from, by reason of, as to, in order to”), from Proto-Germanic *furi (“for”), from Proto-Indo-European *preh?-.

Cognate with West Frisian foar (“for”), Dutch voor (“for”), German für (“for”), Danish for (“for”), Swedish för (“for”), Norwegian for (“for”), Icelandic fyrir (“for”), Latin per (“by, through, for, by means of”) and Romance language successors (e.g. Spanish para (“for”)), Ancient Greek ???? (perí, “for, about, toward”), Lithuanian per (“by, through, during”), Sanskrit ??? (pári, “over, around”).

Pronunciation

• (stressed) enPR: fôr
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /f??(?)/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /f??/
  • (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /fo?(?)/
  • Rhymes: -??(?)
• (unstressed) enPR: f?r
  • (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /f?(?)/
  • (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /f?(?)/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /f?/, IPA^(key): /f?/
• Homophones: fore (with horse-hoarse merger), four (with horse-hoarse merger)

Conjunction

for

1. (literary) Because, as, since.

   I had to stay with my wicked stepmother, for I had nowhere else to go.

Synonyms

• given that, seeing that; see also Thesaurus:because

Translations

Preposition

for

1. Towards; in the direction of.
2. Directed at; intended to belong to.

3. In order to help, benefit, gratify, honor etc. (someone or something).
4. To be used or treated in a stated way, or with a stated purpose.

5. Supporting, in favour of; (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?): wanting

   Antonym: against

6. Because of.
   • 1864, George Etell Sargent, The Story of a City Arab (page 313)

     I could not see his hands, for the thick gloves he wore, and his face was partially concealed by a red woollen comforter; but his entire appearance and manners tallied with what I had seen of Yorkshire farmerhood.

7. Intended to cure, remove or counteract; in order to cure, remove or counteract.

8. Over (a period of time).
   • 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses

     To guide the sun's bright chariot for a day.

9. Throughout or across (a distance in space).
10. On behalf of.

11. In the role or capacity of; instead of; in place of.

12. In exchange for; in correspondence or equivalence with.
13. In order to obtain or acquire.
    • 1641, John Denham, The Sophy

      He writes not for money, nor for praise.

14. By the standards of, usually with the implication of those standards being lower than one might otherwise expect.

15. To be, or as being.
    • 17th century Abraham Cowley, Of Wit

      We take a falling meteor for a star.

    • if a man can be persuaded and fully assured of anything for a truth without having examined, what is there that he may not embrace for truth ?

    • c. 1690, John Dryden, Translations (Preface)

      Most of our ingenious young men take up some cry'd-up English poet for their model.

    • 1712, Ambrose Philips, The Distrest Mother

      But let her go for an ungrateful woman.

    • 1976, Louis L’Amour, The Rider of Lost Creek, Bantam Dell (?ISBN), Chapter 2:

      They knew him for a stranger.

16. (usually in the phrase 'for all') Despite, in spite of.
    • 1892 August 6, "The Unbidden Guest", in Charles Dickens, Jr. (editor), All the Year Round,^[2] page 133,

      Mr. Joseph Blenkinshaw was perhaps not worth quite so much as was reported; but for all that he was a very wealthy man […]
17. Used to indicate the subject of a to-infinitive.

19. Indicating something desired or anticipated.
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift, Prologue:

      O For a Mu?e of Fire, that would a?cend / The brighte?t Heauen of Inuention :

    • 1858 March 27, "The Lay of the Brief", in Punch, Or, The London Charivari, page 129:

      Oh! but to breathe the air / By their side under summer skies! To watch the blush on their cheeks, / The light in their liquid eyes. / Oh! but for one short hour, / To whisper a word of love; […]

20. (in expressions such as 'for a start') Introducing the first item(s) in a potential sequence.

21. (with names, chiefly US) In honor of; after.

22. Due or facing (a certain outcome or fate).

23. (chiefly US) Out of; used to indicate a fraction, a ratio

24. (cricket) Used as part of a score to indicate the number of wickets that have fallen.

25. (obsolete) Indicating that in prevention of which, or through fear of which, anything is done.
26. Used in various more-or-less idiomatic ways to construe individual verbs, indicating various semantic relationships such as target, purpose, result, etc.; see also the entries for individual phrasal verbs, e.g. ask for, look for, stand for, etc.

Alternative forms

• (eye dialects): fo, fo', fur, fuh

Antonyms

• against

Derived terms

Translations

Particle

for

1. (nonstandard, in representations of dialectal speech, especially that of black speakers) To, the particle for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
   • 1896, McClure's magazine, page 270:

     “'Ugh—I'll not be able for get up. Send for M'sieu le Curé—I'll be goin' for die for sure.'

   • 2007, H. Nigel Thomas, Return to Arcadia: A Novel (Tsar Publications):

     "She say that when nigger people step out o' they place and start for rub shoulders with Bacra, trouble just 'round the corner."

Related terms

• for to

References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8
• for at OneLook Dictionary Search
• for in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• 'fro, ORF, fro, orf

Abinomn

Noun

for

1. a kind of fish

Catalan

Noun

for m (plural fors)

1. prize, worth
2. forum

Cornish

Noun

for

1. Mixed mutation of mor.

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse fóðr, from Middle Low German v?der (“linen, sheath”), from Proto-Germanic *f?dr? (“sheath”).

Alternative forms

• fór

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?fo???], [?fo???]
• Rhymes: -o???

Noun

for n (singular definite foret, plural indefinite for)

1. lining (covering for the inside of something)
2. lining (material used for inside covering)

Inflection

References

“for,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

From Old Danish for, from Proto-Germanic *furai (in Western Old Norse replaced by the variant Old Norse fyrr, from Proto-Germanic *furiz, *furi, = Danish before).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [f?]

Preposition

for

1. for
2. of
3. to
4. on
5. at
6. before, in front of
7. by

Adverb

for

1. too (more than enough; as too much)
2. in front
3. forward

Conjunction

for

1. for, because

Etymology 3

See fare (“to rush, run”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?fo???], [?fo???]

Verb

for, fór or farede

1. past tense of fare.

Esperanto

Etymology

Compare Latin for?s (“outside”).

Pronunciation

Adverb

for

1. away, far, gone
   • 1998, Henrik Ibsen, trans. Odd Tangerud Puphejmo : Dramo en tri aktoj, [3]

     NORA (komencas elpreni el la skatolo, sed balda? for?etas ?ion). Ho, se mi kura?us eliri. Se nur neniu venus. Se nur ne dume okazus io hejme. Stulta babila?o; neniu venos. Nur ne pensi. Brosi la mufon. Delikataj gantoj, delikataj gantoj. For el la pensoj! For, for! Unu, du, tri, kvar, kvin, ses — (krias) Jen, tie ili venas —

     NORA (begins to unpack the box, but soon pushes it all away). Oh, if I dared go out. If only no one would come. If only I could be sure nothing would happen here in the meantime. Stupid nonsense; no one will come. Only I mustn't think about it. I will brush my muff. What lovely, lovely gloves. Out of my thoughts, Away, away! One, two, three, four, five, six— (Screams) There, someone's coming—

Derived terms

French

Etymology

From Latin forum; doublet of fur and forum. Unrelated to French fort.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??/

Noun

for m (plural not attested)

1. (obsolete) Only used in for intérieur

Further reading

• “for” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Etymology 1

Inflected form of ir (“to go”).

Verb

for

1. first/third-person singular future subjunctive of ir

Etymology 2

Inflected form of ser (“to be”).

Verb

for

1. first/third-person singular future subjunctive of ser

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??r/
• Rhymes: -??r

Noun

for f (genitive singular forar, nominative plural forir)

1. mud

   Synonym: drulla

2. bog

Declension

Derived terms

• forarpittur

Ido

Etymology

Borrowing from English far (from). Compare Esperanto for.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?r/

Preposition

for

1. far from, away from

Derived terms

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *f??r, from Proto-Indo-European *b?éh?ti (“to speak”). The verb's deponency's origin is unclear.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /for/, [f?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /for/, [f?r]

Verb

for (present infinitive f?r? or f?rier, perfect active f?tus sum); first conjugation, deponent, defective

1. I speak, talk, say.

Conjugation

Certain forms were not used in Classical Latin.

¹The present passive infinitive in -ier is a rare poetic form which is attested for this verb.

Synonyms

• (say): d?c?, loquor, ?i?, inquam

Derived terms

Related terms

• f?bula
• f?ma
• f?s

References

• for in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• for in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• for in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[4], London: Macmillan and Co.
• Karl Gottlob Zumpt, 1846, A school-grammar of the Latin language, p146

Middle English

Alternative forms

• vor, ver, fer, fur

Etymology

From Old English for, from Proto-Germanic *fura, *furi.

Preposition

for

1. for

Conjunction

for

1. for

Descendants

• English: for
• Scots: for

References

• “for, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “for, conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish for, from Proto-Celtic *u?or, from Proto-Indo-European *uper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /for/

Preposition

for (with accusative or dative)

1. on, over
   • c. 1000, The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig, section 1, published in Irische Teste, vol. 1 (1880), edited by Ernst Windisch:

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “1 for”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?r?/ (unstressed)
• IPA^(key): /f?/ (unstressed)

Etymology 1

Adverb

for

1. too

Synonyms

• altfor

Etymology 2

Conjunction

for

1. for

Synonyms

• fordi

Etymology 3

From Old Norse fóðr

Noun

for n (definite singular foret, indefinite plural for, definite plural fora or forene)

1. alternative form of fôr

Derived terms

• dyrefor
• fiskefor

Etymology 4

Preposition

for

1. for

Derived terms

• vestenfor

Etymology 5

Verb

for

1. past tense of fare.

References

• “for” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?r?/

Conjunction

for

1. for, because

Etymology 2

From Old Norse f?r, from Proto-Germanic *far?. Related to fara.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fo?r/

Alternative forms

• fòr

Noun

for f (definite singular fora, indefinite plural forer, definite plural forene)

2. travel
3. footprints

Etymology 3

From Old Norse for, probably derived from earlier Proto-Germanic *furhs.

Alternative forms

• fore, fòr, fòre

Noun

for f (definite singular fora, indefinite plural forer, definite plural forene)

2. (agriculture) furrow

Derived terms

• plogfòr

See also

• får (Norwegian Bokmål)

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fu?r/

Alternative forms

• fór

Adjective

for (masculine and feminine for, neuter fort, definite singular and plural fore, comparative forare, indefinite superlative forast, definite superlative foraste)

1. fast

   gå fórare!

   Go faster!

Etymology 5

From Old Norse fóðr, from Proto-Germanic *f?dr? (“fodder”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fu?r/

Noun

for n (definite singular foret, indefinite plural for, definite plural fora)

1. alternative form of fôr (“fodder”)

Derived terms

• dyrefor
• fiskefor

Etymology 6

From Old Norse fóðr, borrowed from Middle Low German v?der (“sheath, linen”), from Proto-Germanic *f?dr?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fu?r/

Noun

for n (definite singular foret, indefinite plural for, definite plural fora)

1. alternative form of fôr (“lining”)

Etymology 7

From Old Norse fyrir

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?r?/

Preposition

for

1. for

2. of

Adverb

for

1. too

2. in favour of

Derived terms

• innanfor
• utanfor
• utfor

Etymology 8

Verb

for

1. misspelling of fór, present tense of fara and fare

for

1. imperative of fòra and fòre
2. imperative of fôra and fôre

References

• “for” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *furi

Alternative forms

• fore

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /for/

Preposition

for

1. for

Descendants

• Middle English: for, vor, ver, fer, fur
  • English: for
  • Scots: for

Etymology 2

see faran

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fo?r/

Verb

f?r

1. first/third-person singular preterite of faran

Etymology 3

From Proto-Germanic *f?r? (“trip; wagon”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fo?r/

Noun

f?r f (nominative plural f?ra)

1. journey, going, course, expedition, approach; passage, lifestyle, way of life

Declension

Etymology 4

Variant of fearh. From Proto-West Germanic *farh (“pig”). Cognate with Middle Low German v?r (“lean young pig”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fo?r/

Noun

f?r m

1. hog, pig

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: *farwe, *farh, *far?e (attested only in plural form faren)
  • English: farrow
  • Scots: ferrae, ferry, farry

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /for/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *sweseros, from *sw?s (“you (pl.)”); compare Latin vester.

Alternative forms

• far, bar

Determiner

for (triggers eclipsis)

1. your (plural)
2. you (plural; as the object of a preposition that takes the genitive)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:for.

Synonyms

• sethar

Descendants

• Irish: bhur
• Scottish Gaelic: ur

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *u?or, from Proto-Indo-European *upér.

Alternative forms

• far

Preposition

for (with accusative or dative)

1. on, over

For quotations using this term, see Citations:for.

Inflection

Derived terms

Combinations with definite articles:

• forsin(d) (masculine and feminine accusative singular, all genders dative singular)
• forsa (neuter accusative singular)
• for(s)na (accusative plural)
• for(s)naib (dative plural)

Combinations with possessive determiners:

• form (“on my”)
• fort (“on your sg”)
• fora (“on his/her/its/their”)

Combinations with relative pronouns:

• for(s)a (“on whom, on which”)

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “1 for (‘on, over’)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “2 for, far, bar, uar (‘your’)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Norse

Etymology

Probably derived from Proto-Germanic *furhs.

Noun

for f

1. furrow

Descendants

• Norwegian Nynorsk: for
• Norwegian Bokmål: får
• Old Swedish: for
  • Swedish: fåra

References

• for in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old Saxon

Noun

for

1. Alternative form of fora

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?fo?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?fo?/

Verb

for

1. first-person singular (eu) future subjunctive of ir
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) future subjunctive of ir

3. first-person singular (eu) future subjunctive of ser
4. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) future subjunctive of ser

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English for.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?f??/, /?f??/

Noun

for m (plural fors)

1. (programming) for loop (a loop that uses a counter)

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin forum

Noun

for n (plural foruri)

1. forum

Declension

Swedish

Verb

for

1. past tense of fara.

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French forn, from Latin furnus.

Noun

for m (plural fors)

1. oven