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refer

re·fer/ɹɪˈfɝ/verb, noun

refer is a verb meaning “To direct the attention of (someone toward something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-E-F-E-R and has 2 syllables (re·fer), and it appears 28 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does refer mean?

verb

  1. 1

    To direct the attention of (someone toward something).

    The shop assistant referred me to the help desk on ground floor.

  2. 2

    To submit to (another person or group) for consideration; to send or direct elsewhere.

    He referred the matter to the principal.

  3. 3

    To place in or under by a mental or rational process; to assign to, as a class, a cause, source, a motive, reason, or ground of explanation.

    He referred the phenomena to electrical disturbances.

  4. 4

    To mention (something); to direct attention (to something).

    To explain the problem, the teacher referred to an example in another textbook.

  5. 5

    To make reference to; to be about; to relate to; to regard; to allude to.

    The recipe referred to several unusual ingredients.

  6. 6

    To be referential to another element in a sentence.

  7. 7

    To point to either a specific location in computer memory or to a specific object.

    In C, the pointer obtained by &a refers to the variable a.

  8. 8

    To require to resit an examination.

    Smith's marks in the finals were unsatisfactory and he was referred.

noun

  1. 1

    A blurb on the front page of a newspaper issue or section that refers the reader to the full story inside the issue or section by listing its slug or headline and its page number.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce refer?

  • UK /ɹɪˈfɜː/
  • US /ɹɪˈfɝ/
  • /ɹɪˈfɛr/

As a noun (“A blurb on the front page of a newspaper issue or section…”): /ˈɹiːfə/, /ˈɹifɚ/, /ˈɹiːfə/.

Refer has 2 syllables, split re·fer in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-refer.ogg, En-au-reefer.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of refer

  • refers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • referring participle, present
  • referred participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is refer?

Refer appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,288th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Refer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchréférer (to direct to a source for help or information), renvoyer (à) (to allude to)
Germanverweisen (to direct to a source for help or information), sich auf etwas beziehen (to allude to)
Portugueseencaminhar (to direct to a source for help or information), referir, mencionar (to allude to), remeter, indicar (to submit to an authority figure for…)
Spanishreferir, remitir (to direct to a source for help or information), referirse a, estar relacionado con (to allude to)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does refer come from?

From Middle English referren, from Old French referer, from Latin referre. The noun (used in journalism) is from the verb. Doublet of relate. See also infer, collate and confer, delate and defer, as well as prelate and prefer among others.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).