Other forms: referrals
A referral is being sent on to a specialist by a doctor. Get a referral, a referral letter, referral times.
In the NHS it is the gate to most specialist care, and referral to treatment times are one of the headline performance measures. Self-referral is possible for a few services. In business, a referral is a customer sent by another customer, and referral schemes reward it. Note refer; and that the Latin means to carry back.
1nounreferralBeing sent on to a specialist by a doctor.
“My doctor gave me a referral to a skin specialist at the hospital.”
2nouncustomerA customer sent by another customer.
“Customers get a discount for every referral who signs up with their code.”
referral is a sending on.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰer-
Latin
referre
Old French
referer
Middle English
referren
English
refer
English, today
referral
From refer + -al. refer comes from Middle English referren, from Old French referer, from Latin referre. The noun (used in journalism) is from the verb. a doublet of relate. See also infer, collate and confer, delate and defer, as well as prelate and prefer among others.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA