Word.ws English Dictionary

c.f.

c.f. is the abbreviation of cantus firmus.

c.f. is the misspelling of cf..

Meaning of cantus firmus

Noun

cantus firmus (plural cantus firmi or canti firmi)

  1. A preexisting melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.

Meaning of cf.

Verb

cf.

  1. (imperative) Compare; compare to; compare with.
    • “Connexion” is the etymological (ie, “correct”) spelling. That is to say, our word is derived from an actual Latin noun, cf. deflexion, inflexion, and reflexion. […] And it might make life easier to abolish the letter “x”. But why should we cut off the fascinating roots of our words? I should carry...2005 April 11, Philip Howard, “Modern Manners”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2026
  2. (imperative, nonstandard) See; see also.

Forms of c.f.

pluralc.f.

Questions about c.f.

What is c.f. the abbreviation of?
C.f. is the abbreviation of cantus firmus.

Words near c.f. in the dictionary

  1. C.D. Cal.
  2. C.D. Ill.
  3. C.D.s
  4. C.E.
  5. C.E.F.
  6. c.f.
  7. C.F.R.
  8. c.g.
  9. c.g.s
  10. C.I.A.
  11. C.I.E.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: c.f. (page history and authors); cantus firmus (page history and authors); cf. (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “c.f..” Word.ws, https://word.ws/c.f.. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.