Referral

How to spell referral

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce referral

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does referral mean?

1. nounThe act of directing someone to another person, service, or organisation for help, advice, or treatment.

Referral in a sentence

• The doctor wrote a referral to a specialist clinic.

• Our business grows mostly through word-of-mouth referral from happy clients.

Where does referral come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This noun grew out of the verb 'refer', which English took in the late 1300s through Old French from the Latin referre, literally 'to carry back' or 'to bring back', formed from re- 'back' and ferre 'to bear or carry'. The same Latin ferre is hidden inside a whole family of English words such as 'transfer' (carry across), 'infer' (carry in), and 'fertile' (bearing fruit). The modern administrative sense, sending or directing a person on to someone else for help, advice, or treatment, developed in the twentieth century, especially in medicine and business. The suffix -al was added to make an action noun, and the spelling doubles the r because the stress falls on the second syllable, the same reason 'referred' and 'referring' double it too. That stressed-syllable doubling is precisely the trap: 'refer' has one r in the middle, but 'referral' keeps two, while the related noun 'reference' drops back to one.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• fer (from Latin ferre: to carry, to bring)
• -al (noun-forming suffix)