reference

See also: référence and référencé

For information on how references should be handled on Wiktionary, see Wiktionary:References

English

Etymology

From refer +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛf.(ə)ɹəns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ref‧er‧ence

Noun

reference (countable and uncountable, plural references)

1. (literary or archaic) A relationship or relation (to something).
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069:, III.1.3:

     [A]ll these are far more eminent and great, when they shall proceed from a sanctified spirit, that hath a true touch of religion and a reference to God.

2. A measurement one can compare to.
3. Information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted
4. A reference work.
5. (semantics) A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.
6. (academic writing) A short written identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a text.
7. (academic writing) A previously published written work thus indicated; a source.
8. (programming) An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself.
9. (programming, character entity) A special sequence used to represent complex characters in a web page such as ™ or €.
10. (obsolete) Appeal.
    • Shakespeare

      Make your full reference.

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of reference

• circular reference
• forward reference

• phantom reference
• soft reference

• strong reference

• weak reference

Derived terms

• call-by-reference
• pass-by-reference
• self-reference

Related terms

Related terms

• frame of reference
• point of reference

• reference book
• reference manual

• reference queue

• reference work

Translations

literary: relationship

measurement one can compare to

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 參考 (zh), 参考 (zh) (cānkǎo)

• Dutch: referentie (nl) f
• Estonian: referents
• Finnish: vertausarvo, referenssi
• French: référence (fr) f
• Galician: referencia f
• German: Referenz (de) f
• Indonesian: rujukan (id), acuan (id), referensi (id)
• Italian: riferimento (it)

• Japanese: 参考 (ja) (さんこう, sankō)
• Korean: 참고 (ko) (chamgo) (參考 (ko)), 참조 (ko) (chamjo) (參照 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سه‌رچاوه‌‏‎ (ku) (sarchAwa)

• Malay: rujukan, acuan (ms)
• Portuguese: referência (pt) f
• Romanian: referință (ro) f
• Russian: образе́ц (ru) m (obrazéc), отноше́ние (ru) n (otnošénije), рефере́нция (ru) f (referéncija), ссы́лка (ru) f (ssýlka)
• Spanish: referencia (es)
• Turkish: referans (tr)

information about a person

• Armenian: բնութագիր (hy) (bnutʿagir)
• Azeri: xasiyyətnamə
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 證明 (zh), 证明 (zh) (zhèngmíng)

• Dutch: referent m, referente (nl) f
• Estonian: soovitus
• Finnish: suositus (fi)
• French: recommandation (fr) f, référence (fr) f

• German: Referenz (de) f
• Hungarian: ajánlás (hu), referencia (hu)
• Japanese: 照会 (ja) (shōkai), 照会先 (しょうかいさき, shōkaisaki)
• Portuguese: referência (pt) f
• Russian: рекоменда́ция (ru) f (rekomendácija), поручи́тельство (ru) n (poručítelʹstvo), рефере́нция (ru) f (referéncija), характери́стика (ru) f (xarakterístika)
• Serbo-Croatian: preporuka (sh) f
• Turkish: referans (tr)

reference work — see reference work

semantics: relation between objects

academic writing: identification of a source

• Estonian: viide
• Finnish: lähdeviittaus, viite (fi), viittaus (fi)
• Georgian: წყაროს მითითება (c̣q̇aros mititeba)
• Hungarian: hivatkozás (hu)
• Maori: tohutoro

• Navajo: naaltsoos bitsʼą́ą́dóó ééhózinii
• Portuguese: referência (pt) f
• Russian: ссы́лка (ru) f (ssýlka), рефере́нция (ru) f (referéncija)
• Swedish: källhänvisning (sv)
• Tagalog: sanggunian

academic writing: source

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 來源 (zh), 来源 (zh) (láiyuán)

• Dutch: referentie (nl) f
• Esperanto: referenco
• Estonian: allikas
• Finnish: lähde (fi)
• French: référence (fr) f
• Georgian: წყარო (c̣q̇aro)
• German: Quelle (de) f
• Greek: πηγές (el) pl (pigés)
• Haitian Creole: referans

• Hungarian: forrás (hu)
• Japanese: 出典 (shutten)
• Navajo: naaltsoos bitsʼą́ą́dóó ééhózinii
• Portuguese: referência (pt) f
• Romanian: referință (ro) f, sursă de referință f
• Russian: ссы́лка (ru) f (ssýlka), отсы́лка (ru) f (otsýlka), исто́чник (ru) m (istóčnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: iomradh m
• Spanish: referencia (es) f
• Swedish: källa (sv) c
• Tagalog: sanggunian, talasanggunian
• Turkish: kaynak (tr)

programming: object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 引用 (zh)

programming: special sequence used to represent complex characters

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} referenco
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} refero

• Persian: ^{(please verify)} اشاره‏‎ (fa) (ešâre), ^{(please verify)} شناس‏‎ (fa) (šenâs), ^{(please verify)} منبع‏‎ (fa) (manba)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} referens

See also

• sense

Verb

reference (third-person singular simple present references, present participle referencing, simple past and past participle referenced)

1. To refer to, to make reference to.

   Reference the dictionary for word meanings.

2. To mention, to cite.

Usage notes

• Some authorities object to the use of reference as a verb, preferring "refer to" or "cite".

Antonyms

• dereference

Related terms

• referee
• referent
• referential

Translations

to refer to

• Estonian: viitama
• Finnish: viitata (fi)
• French: faire référence à, référencer (fr), se référer à (fr)
• German: referenzieren (de)

• Japanese: 参照する (sanshō suru)
• Polish: odnosić się do
• Portuguese: referenciar (pt)
• Russian: ссыла́ться (ru) (ssylátʹsja) + на impf (na)

to mention

• Finnish: viitata (fi), mainita (fi)
• French: faire référence à, se référer à (fr)
• Japanese: 言及する (genkyū suru)

• Portuguese: referenciar (pt), mencionar (pt)
• Russian: упомина́ть (ru) impf (upominátʹ)
• Spanish: referenciar

Further reading

• reference in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• reference in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911