Where does “referee” come from?

Referee comes from Old French referer, from Latin referre meaning "to carry back," composed of the prefix re- and the root bʰer- meaning "to carry" in Proto-Indo-European.

referee (English): An umpire or judge; an official who makes sure...

Definitions

  1. An umpire or judge; an official who makes sure...

Ancestry of “referee”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishrelesen—
2Old Frenchrefererto tell; to talk about; to speak of
3Latinreferrepresent active infinitive of referō; to refer
4Latinferrepresent active infinitive of ferō; bring; carry
5Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰēr-shiny, light brown

Words derived from “referee”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰēr- →Every word from Latin ferre →Every word from Latin referre →