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: /ˌɹɛf.əˈɹiː/, X-SAMPA: /"%rEf.@"ri:/
• (US) IPA: /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) (ḥákam) m
• Basque: epaile (eu)
• Bulgarian: съдия (bg) (sǎdijá) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裁判 (cmn) (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) (ðietitís) m
• 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 (ja) (referī)
• Korean: 심판 (ko) (simpan) (審判 (ko))
• Luxembourgish: Arbitter (lb) m
• Macedonian: судија (mk) (súdija) m

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

  Cyrillic: судија (sh) m, судац (sh) m, суткиња (sh) f

  Roman: sudija (sh) m, sudac (sh) m, sutkinja (sh) f

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: sudnik m, sudnica f

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

person who settles a dispute

• Bulgarian: съдия (bg) (sǎdijá) m
• 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) (ðietitís) m, εισηγητής (el) (isigitís) m
• Korean: 중재인 (仲裁人, jungjaein)

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

  Cyrillic: судија (sh) m, судац (sh) m, суткиња (sh) f

  Roman: sudija (sh) m, sudac (sh) m, sutkinja (sh) f

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

person who writes a letter of reference

• Chinese:

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

• Finnish: suosittelija (fi)
• 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 (mk) (preporáčatel) m
• Russian: поручитель (ru) (poručítel’) m, поручительница (ru) (poručítel’nica) f
• Swedish: referens (sv) c

expert who judges a manuscript

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

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вештак (sh) m / вјештак (sh) m, стручњак (sh) m

  Roman: veštak (sh) m / vještak (sh) m, stručnjak (sh) m

• Spanish: árbitro (es) m, revisor (es) 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.

• Slovak: 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 (da)
• Finnish: tuomita, toimia tuomarina, tuomaroida (fi), sovitella (fi), suositella (fi), arvioida (fi)
• French: arbitre (fr)
• German: schiedsrichtern (de)

• Macedonian: суди (mk) (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.

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

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Finnish

Noun

referee

1. referee

Declension

Declension of referee (type filee) singular plural nominative referee refereet genitive refereen refereiden refereitten partitive refereetä refereitä accusative referee refereen refereet inessive refereessä refereissä elative refereestä refereistä illative refereehen refereeseen refereihin refereisiin adessive refereellä refereillä ablative refereeltä refereiltä allative refereelle refereille essive refereenä refereinä translative refereeksi refereiksi instructive – referein abessive refereettä refereittä comitative – refereineen