English
referential integrity
referential + integrity
A compound of referential + integrity
Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to touch’
…
Proto-Italic *n̥tagros ‘untouched’
Latin integer ‘complete, perfect’
Latin integritās ‘soundness, integrity’
Middle French intégrité
English integrity
Today it means
noun The property of a relational database that enforces valid relationships between tables, such that no foreign key can contain a value that does not match a primary key in the corresponding linked table.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “referential integrity”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / referential integrity