transfer

American  

[trans-fur, trans-fer, trans-fer] / trænsˈfɜr, ˈtræns fər, ˈtræns fər /

verb (used with object)

• transfers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• transferred,
  past participle,  past
• transferring
  present participle

1. 

   to convey or remove from one place, person, etc., to another.

   He transferred the package from one hand to the other.

2. to cause to pass from one person to another, as thought, qualities, or power; transmit.

3. Law. to make over the possession or control of.

   to transfer a title to land.

4. to imprint, impress, or otherwise convey (a drawing, design, pattern, etc.) from one surface to another.

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verb (used without object)

• transfers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• transferred,
  past participle,  past
• transferring
  present participle

1. to remove oneself from one place to another.

   to transfer from the New York office to London.

2. to withdraw from one school, college, or the like, and enter another.

   I transferred from Rutgers to Tulane.

3. to be moved from one place to another.

   to transfer to overseas duty.

4. to change by means of a transfer from one bus, train, or the like, to another.

noun

• transfers
  plural

1. a means or system of transferring.

2. an act of transferring.

3. the fact of being transferred.

4. a point or place for transferring.

5. a ticket entitling a passenger to continue a journey on another bus, train, or the like.

6. a drawing, design, pattern, or the like, that is or may be transferred from one surface to another, usually by direct contact.

7. a person who changes or is changed from one college, military unit, business department, etc., to another.

8. Law. a conveyance, by sale, gift, or otherwise, of real or personal property, to another.

9. Finance. the act of having the ownership of a stock or registered bond transferred.

10. Also called transfer of training. Psychology. the positive or negative influence of prior learning on subsequent learning.

11. Also called language transfer. Linguistics. the application of native-language rules in attempted performance in a second language, in some cases resulting in deviations from target-language norms and in other cases facilitating second-language acquisition.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or involving transfer payments.

transfer British  

verb

1. to change or go or cause to change or go from one thing, person, or point to another

   they transferred from the Park Hotel to the Imperial

   she transferred her affections to her dog

2. to change (buses, trains, etc)

3. law to make over (property, etc) to another; convey

4. to displace (a drawing, design, etc) from one surface to another

5. (of a football player, esp a professional) to change clubs or (of a club, manager, etc) to sell or release (a player) to another club

6. to leave one school, college, etc, and enrol at another

7. to change (the meaning of a word, etc), esp by metaphorical extension

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noun

1. the act, process, or system of transferring, or the state of being transferred

2. 1. a person or thing that transfers or is transferred

   2. ( as modifier )

      a transfer student

3. a design or drawing that is transferred from one surface to another, as by ironing a printed design onto cloth

4. law the passing of title to property or other right from one person to another by act of the parties or by operation of law; conveyance

5. finance

   1. the act of transferring the title of ownership to shares or registered bonds in the books of the issuing enterprise

   2. ( as modifier )

      transfer deed

      transfer form

6. any document or form effecting or regulating a transfer

7. a ticket that allows a passenger to change routes

Usage

Where does transfer come from? Transfer is an excellent example of how a little knowledge of Latin can go a long way. Transfer entered English around 1350–40. It ultimately derives from the Latin verb trānsferre, which principally meant “to carry or bring across.” The verb is composed of two parts. The first part is trāns-, a prefix based on the adverb and preposition trāns, meaning “across, beyond, through.” The second part is ferre, a verb meaning “to bear, carry,” among many other senses. The English verb bear, as in “bearing a load,” is actually an etymological cousin to the Latin ferre. Trāns- and ferre appear in many other English words. Let’s start with ferre. Prefer comes from the Latin praeferre, “to bear or set before” (learn more at pre-, preference). Refer comes from the Latin referre, “to bring back” (re-, reference). Infer comes from inferre, “to bring in” (in-, inference). This next origin may put a new spin on the word for you: suffer comes from sufferre, literally “to bear under,” with suf- a variant of sub- “under.” Defer and deference ultimately comes from—slight curveball here—differre, “to bear apart, carry away.” Differre is also the source of differ, different, and difference. Now for trāns-. Trāns- was incredibly productive in Latin. That means it was used to produce many new words, especially verbs (and their related forms) that have made their way into English, including:

• transact
• transcend
• transcribe
• transfigure
• transfix
• transform
• transfuse
• transmit
• transpire

Does knowing that trāns- means “across, beyond, through” shed any new light on what these words mean?Some other common words directly derived from Latin and featuring trāns- are transit, translucent, and transparent. Trāns-, naturalized as trans-, is also very productive in English. Some familiar examples include transconintental, trans-fat, and transgender. Dig deeper Translate is another word related to transfer—and not just because they both feature the trans- prefix. Now, English has irregular verbs: saw is the past tense of see, for instance, and bought is the past tense of buy. Latin had irregular verbs, too, as do many other languages. Without getting too technical, the verb ferre (meaning, if you’ll recall, “to carry”) formed past tenses based on tulī (“I carried”), and formed part participles based on lātus. That means translate is derived from the past participle form of transfer: trānslātus, literally “carried across,” as in a text that has been copied over. Isn’t it wild how so many words are related? Yep, relate—along with relationship, relation, and many other words—comes from the past participle form of referre (“to carry back,” source of refer), which was relātus.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nontransferability
  noun
• retransfer
  noun
• transferability
  noun
• transferrer
  noun
• retransfer
  verb (used with object)
• nontransferable
  adjective
• transferable
  adjective
• transferrable
  adjective
• untransferable
  adjective
• untransferred
  adjective
• untransferring
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• transfers
  plural

Participles

• transferring
  present
• transferred
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• transfer
  simple
• transfers
  simple
• have transferred
  perfect
• has transferred
  perfect
• am transferring
  progressive
• are transferring
  progressive
• is transferring
  progressive
• have been transferring
  perfect progressive
• has been transferring
  perfect progressive

Past

• transferred
  simple
• had transferred
  perfect
• was transferring
  progressive
• were transferring
  progressive
• had been transferring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will transfer
  simple
• will have transferred
  perfect
• will be transferring
  progressive
• will have been transferring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of transfer

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English transferren, from Latin trānsferre, from trāns trans- + ferre “to bring, carry”; see also bear ¹

Explanation

If you are moving something from one place to another, like transferring money from your savings account to your checking account, you are transferring it. Or, if you've been moved from one job site to another — you, my friend, have been transferred. Transfer can also be a noun that means the act of moving something from one form or location to another, so that money that was shifted from one account to another is considered a transfer. If you change something from one form to another, you can say that you transferred it. "Her mother had transferred all the old 8mm home movies to video tape. Now she'd have to transfer them again using a more modern technology."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transfer transfers transferred transferring

The number of European transfer fees paid above €50m has significantly increased, from 14 in the summer of 2024 to 23 in 2025.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

“They told her she had $200,000 at risk, and they have to move fast to transfer the money to them to keep it safe,” Kirwan said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

Metal ions help transfer energy from a star's radiation into surrounding material, pushing that material outward.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

Investors will be able to borrow against their tokens, transfer them and trade them 24/7.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Cut with cookie cutters and transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

Their work is a sign of the times in the Premier League, with clubs across the top flight and beyond increasingly using data for transfers and monitoring their teams' performance.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

Today, she automatically transfers money into a robo-invested Fidelity Roth IRA.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

The initial reaction is panic, especially as we’re seeing this trend of rapid transfers and third-country removals.

From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2026

It was a sign maybe things were changing and people were paying attention to the games being played with more than 17,000 transfers in California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Just in front of them stands a small group of younger Dauntless, including Uriah; Marlene; Lynn’s sister, Shauna; and Lauren, who taught the Dauntless-born initiates as Four taught the faction transfers during initiation.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

It added that the leak of user images occurred before it had put in place new safeguards on AI training, and it was working to get all the user images transferred to any third-party removed.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

In binary systems like this one, material can be pulled away from the companion and transferred onto the white dwarf.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026

Specimens were taken to a lab in Carlsbad for further study, and will eventually be transferred to a museum — perhaps the San Diego Natural History Museum or the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

In 2022 a coroner ruled, external Martha would probably have survived if she had been transferred earlier to intensive care and given appropriate treatment.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

They are transferred from their prison cells to a much larger, invisible cage.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Like an AI agent taking and transferring data when it should not have, OpenAI said.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

Then, in the process of transferring her accounts from the previous custodian to Kirwan’s firm, the client was contacted by a scammer and told that her accounts were compromised.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

For example, before vaccines kick in, sharing a litter box with another house cat risks transferring parasites.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

But much of the structure was informal, with a lack of documentation about transferring a company between generations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

I worked transferring books to computer discs, to cut down on storage space and replacement costs, they said.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Related Words

• assign
• bring
• carry
• cede
• change
• convert
• deliver
• dispatch
• ferry
• find
• give
• hand over
• move
• pass on
• provide
• relocate
• remove
• sell
• send
• shift