Refer

How to spell refer

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce refer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does refer mean?

1. verbTo direct someone or something to another person, place, or source for help, information, or a decision.
2. verbTo mention or allude to something or someone in speech or writing.

Refer in a sentence

• The doctor may refer you to a specialist for further tests.

• The report did not refer to last year's losses at all.

• The manager will refer the complaint to the legal team.

• In her email she will refer to the earlier agreement.

Where does refer come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin referre, which combined the prefix re-, meaning 'back', with the verb ferre, meaning 'to carry' or 'to bring'; the literal sense was therefore 'to carry back' or 'to bring back'. From that physical image the meaning broadened into 'to trace something back to a source' and 'to bring a matter before an authority for a decision'. English took the word in during the late 1300s, by way of Old French referer, and over time it gathered its familiar modern uses: directing a person to a source of help and mentioning or pointing to something. The same Latin ferre lies hidden inside a whole family of relatives such as transfer, prefer, infer and conference, all of which involve carrying or bringing in some figurative way. A useful spelling note is that the single r of refer doubles only when a vowel suffix follows the stressed final syllable, giving referred and referring but keeping reference with a single r.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• fer (carry, bring) from Latin ferre