Referred

How to spell referred

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce referred

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does referred mean?

1. verbPast tense of refer: directed someone to a person, source, or service, or mentioned or alluded to something.

Referred in a sentence

• The doctor referred her to a specialist for further tests.

• The report referred to several earlier studies for support.

Where does referred come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of 'refer', which English took from the Latin verb referre, meaning 'to carry back' or 'to bring back'. That verb was built from the prefix re-, meaning 'back', and ferre, meaning 'to carry' or 'to bear', a very old root that also gives us 'transfer', 'infer', 'prefer' and 'confer'. English borrowed the word through Old French referer in the late 1300s, at first in the sense of tracing something back to a source or authority. The modern senses, pointing someone to another person or directing attention to something, grew naturally out of that original idea of carrying a matter back for a decision. The spelling trap lies in the doubling: because the stress in 'refer' falls on the final syllable, the r doubles when '-ed' is added, giving 'referred', whereas the related 'reference' keeps a single r because its stress shifts.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• -fer- (from Latin ferre: to carry, to bring)
• -red (doubled final consonant
• -ed past tense)