referral

Etymology

It is formed from English refer + -al.^[2][3][4][5] The verb refer is referer and Latin referō (“to carry back; to relate”), from re- (“back”) and ferō (“to carry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”).^[3] Earlier nouns for the act were referment (1550s) and reference.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of referring something, or referring to something: before 1790, in J. H. Beattie.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was rare until the 20th century: Etymonline dates it from 1920,^[3] Dictionary.com from 1930–35,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford from the mid 20th century.^[5] Its main modern use is for sending a person, or a person's case, to an expert, which the OED records from 1920 in a report on work with handicapped men;^[2] Etymonline dates the social-work sense by 1955,^[3] and the usual medical use, a general practitioner sending a patient to a specialist, belongs to this sense.^[2][7] From 1956 a referral was also the person referred,^[2] and in medicine from 1938 the feeling of pain at a place far from its cause.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1790 – the act of referring.^[2][4]
• 1920 – the referring of a person or case to a specialist.^[2][3]
• 1938 – (medicine) the transmission of pain to another site.^[2]
• 1956 – a person who has been referred.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of sending a person or case to a specialist or an agency for advice or treatment, especially of a patient by a general practitioner.^[7][4][2]
2. A person who has been referred, as to a doctor or an employer.^[7][4][2]
3. The passing on of a job applicant to an employer after a first interview.^[4]
4. Any act of referring; a reference, including the passing on of information about someone to a third party.^[2][5][4]

Related words

• referent
• refer
• reference
• referee
• referendum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press