referee

See also: Referee

English

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French past participle of referer (“to relate, to refer”), from Latin referre (“to carry back, to report, to notify”); as if refer +‎ -ee, that is, the person to whom something is referred for consideration.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛf.əˈɹiː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌrɛfəˈriː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Wikipedia

An association football referee (right) issues a yellow card to a player.

Noun

referee (plural referees)

1. (sports) An umpire or judge; the official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game

   • 'The referee kicked Jim out of the game for fighting.'

2. A person who settles a dispute
3. A person who writes a letter of reference or provides a reference by phone call for someone

   Your application, along with letters from three referees, should be received by January 31.

4. An expert who judges the manuscript of an article or book to decide if it should be published

Usage notes

• In general, a referee moves around with the game, while an umpire stays (approximately) in one place.

Related terms

• ref
• umpire

Translations

sport: umpire, judge, the supervisor of a game

• Arabic: حكم (ar) m (ḥákam)
• Basque: epaile
• Bulgarian: съдия (bg) m (sǎdijá)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裁判 (zh) (cáipàn)

• Czech: rozhodčí (cs) m
• Danish: dommer (da) c
• Dutch: scheidsrechter (nl)
• Finnish: erotuomari (fi)
• French: arbitre (fr) m
• German: Schiedsrichter (de) m, Schiedsrichterin (de) f
• Greek: διαιτητής (el) m (diaititís)
• Hungarian: bíró (hu)
• Italian: arbitro (it) m
• Japanese: 審判 (ja) (しんぱん, shinpan, しんばん, shinban), レフェリー (referī)
• Korean: 심판 (ko) (simpan) (審判 (ko))
• Luxembourgish: Arbitter m
• Macedonian: судија m (súdija)

• Malay: pengadil, wasit
• Polish: sędzia (pl) m
• Portuguese: árbitro (pt) m, juiz (pt) m
• Russian: судья (ru) m (sud’já), рефери (ru) m (referí), арбитр (ru) m (arbítr), (baseball, cricket) ампайр m (ampájr)
• Scottish Gaelic: rèitear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: судија m, судац m, суткиња f

  Roman: sudija m, sudac m, sutkinja f

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: sudnik m, sudnica f

• Spanish: árbitro (es), réferi (es) m
• Swedish: domare (sv) c
• Turkish: hakem (tr)
• Ukrainian: суддя m (suddjá), рефері m (referí), арбітр (uk) m (arbítr)
• Vietnamese: trọng tài (vi)

person who settles a dispute

• Bulgarian: съдия (bg) m (sǎdijá)
• Dutch: arbiter (nl)
• Finnish: välimies (fi), sovittelija (fi)
• French: arbitre (fr) m
• German: Schlichter m (general); Schiedsmann m (in jurisdiction); Ombudsmann m, Ombudsfrau f (where formalized using this term); more specialized terms exist in various contexts, and usually need to be used, if they exist.
• Greek: διαιτητής (el) m (diaititís), εισηγητής (el) m (eisigitís)
• Korean: 중재인 (ko) (仲裁人, jungjaein)

• Macedonian: судија m (súdija)
• Portuguese: árbitro (pt) m, juiz (pt) m
• Russian: судья (ru) m (sud’já), арбитр (ru) m (arbítr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: судија m, судац m, суткиња f

  Roman: sudija m, sudac m, sutkinja f

• Spanish: árbitro (es) m
• Swedish: skiljedomare c

person who writes a letter of reference

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 證明人, 证明人 (zh) (zhèngmíngrén)

• Finnish: suosittelija
• German: Empfehlungsgeber m, Befürworter m, Protagonist m (if deemed supportive); ? (if neutral or otherwise)

• Korean: 신원보증인 (身元保證人, sinwonbojeung-in)
• Macedonian: препорачател m (preporáčatel)
• Russian: поручитель (ru) m (poručítel’), поручительница (ru) f (poručítel’nica)
• Swedish: referens (sv) c

expert who judges a manuscript

• Finnish: arvioija
• German: Rezensent (de) m, Lektor (de) m
• Korean: 심사원 (ko) (審査員, simsawon)
• Macedonian: вештак m (véštak)
• Russian: рецензент (ru) m (recenzént)

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вештак m / вјештак m, стручњак m

  Roman: veštak m / vještak m, stručnjak m

• Spanish: árbitro (es) m, revisor m
• Turkish: bilirkişi (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} rozhodca

Verb

referee (third-person singular simple present referees, present participle refereeing, simple past and past participle refereed)

1. To act as a referee.
   • 'He has to referee three hockey games this weekend.'
   • 'She has to finish refereeing an article for Nature.'

Translations

to act as a referee

• Danish: dømme
• Finnish: tuomita (fi), toimia tuomarina, tuomaroida, sovitella, suositella (fi), arvioida (fi)
• French: arbitre (fr)
• German: schiedsrichtern

• Macedonian: суди (súdi)
• Portuguese: arbitrar (pt)
• Spanish: arbitrar (es)
• Swedish: döma (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: leiten; pfeifen; richten; schiedsrichten
• German: schlichten; betreuen (broad term)
• German: empfehlen, befürworten (if deemed supportive); ? (if neutral or otherwise)
• German: ^{(please verify)} beurteilen, ^{(please verify)} rezensieren, ^{(please verify)} lektorieren

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Finnish

Noun

referee

1. referee

Declension

Inflection of referee (Kotus type 20/filee, no gradation)

		singular	plural
nominative		referee	refereet
accusative	nom.?	referee	refereet
	gen.	refereen
genitive		refereen	refereiden refereitten
partitive		refereetä	refereitä
inessive		refereessä	refereissä
elative		refereestä	refereistä
illative		refereehen refereeseen	refereihin refereisiin
adessive		refereellä	refereillä
ablative		refereeltä	refereiltä
allative		refereelleˣ	refereilleˣ
essive		refereenä	refereinä
translative		refereeksi	refereiksi
instructive		—	referein
abessive		refereettä	refereittä
comitative		—	refereineen