English
transfer
Transfer comes from Latin trānsferō ‘to bear across’, from trāns- + ferō ‘to carry’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti1‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō1‘to carry’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō1‘to bear’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrānsferō1‘to bear across’
- Englishearliest quotation 1956transfer1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English transfer
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1956, D. B. McNeill, The Sligo, Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway: “All passenger stock is lettered in shaded gold leaf…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, English transfer‘to bear’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéretiWiktionary, English transfer‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferōWiktionary, English transfer‘to carry’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferōWiktionary, English transfer‘to bear’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrānsferōWiktionary, English transfer‘to bear across’
- Englishearliest quotation 1956transferWiktionary, English transfer. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1956, D. B. McNeill, The Sligo, Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway: “All passenger stock is lettered in shaded gold leaf…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, broad, bread, fortune, burden, bearing, barrel, prefer, barn, bore, fury, baron, breeze, bark, broom, barrow, embargo, fret, berth, ferret, furtive, bahar, insufferable, bier, birr, barrette, bairn, burnish, proffer, 114 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to be carrying’
bear, borne, phosphate, phosphorus, euphoria, dysphoria, semaphore, phosphine, indifferently, 92 more
through Proto-Italic *ferō ‘to carry, bear’
suffering, differently, differentiation, indifferent, infertility, deference, infertile, differentially, differentiable, deferential, differentiator, 69 more
through Latin ferō ‘to bear’
different, difference, offer, relative, reference, relation, relate, extraordinary, suffer, frustration, referendum, differ, fertility, referee, fertile, strangely, extravagant, elated, confer, fertilization, ablation, defer, infer, elation, infra, frustrate, collation, dilate, collate, extraneous, ablative, fertilize, strangeness, oblate, efferent, estrange, 80 more
Today it means
verb To move or pass from one place, person or thing to another.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “transfer”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- / transfer