refer: [14] To refer something is etymologically to ‘carry it back’. The word comes via Old French referer from Latin referre, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and ferre ‘carry’ (source of English fertile and related to English bear). Of its derivatives, referee [16] is an English coinage, and referendum [19] is an adoption of the neuter gerundive of referre – literally, ‘that which is to be referred’. Relātus, which was used as the past participle of Latin referre, has given English relate. => bear, referee, referendum