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transfer

/tɹænsˈfɚ/
verbnoun

TRANSFER means moving something from one place, person, or thing to another; it scores 11 points in Scrabble.

NWL Collins ENABLE

Verb 4 meanings

  1. To move or pass from one place, person or thing to another.

    “to transfer the laws of one country to another; to transfer suspicion”

  2. To convey the impression of (something) from one surface to another.

    “to transfer drawings or engravings to a lithographic stone”

  3. To exit one mass transit vehicle and board another (typically one belonging to a different line or mode of transportation) to continue a journey.

    “transfer to the Blue Line”

  4. To be or become transferred.

Noun 4 meanings

  1. The act of conveying or removing something from one place, person or thing to another.

  2. An instance of conveying or removing from one place, person or thing to another; a transferal.

  3. An act of exiting one mass transit vehicle and boarding another (typically one belonging to a different line or mode of transportation) to continue a journey.

  4. A paper receipt given to a rider of one bus (and historically also certain elevated or subway lines), allowing free entry onto another bus to continue a journey.

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

Etymology

From Latin trānsferō (“to bear across”). Distant doublet of translate. See also collate and confer, delate and defer, as well as prelate and prefer among others.

Similar and opposite words

Similar
moveonpasscopytransposeabalienatealienalienateassign

TRANSFER is an eight-letter word for an act of moving or conveying something. Its meaning also covers changing transit vehicles during a journey, and a paper receipt that once allowed a bus rider to continue on another bus. The word has no anagrams or one-letter neighbours, but it shares a rhyme ending with OFFER and REFER.

TRANSFER at a glance

  • TRANSFER has eight letters and scores 11 Scrabble points before board bonuses.
  • The F is the only four-point tile; each of the other seven letters is worth one point.
  • No anagrams are recorded for the exact letters AEFNRRST.
  • TRANSFER has no one-letter neighbours in the word list.

What does transfer mean?

TRANSFER means conveying or removing something from one place, person, or thing to another. You can use it for the act itself or for a particular instance of moving something. The definition is broad, so the surrounding sentence tells you what is being transferred.

In public transport, a transfer can mean leaving one vehicle and boarding another to continue a trip. The word also names a paper receipt that let a bus passenger continue on another bus. Those travel meanings sit alongside the broader sense of moving something between locations or people.

How does TRANSFER score 11 points?

TRANSFER scores 11 points on a plain Scrabble rack: F is worth four, and T, R, A, N, S, E, and the second R are worth one each. The repeated R is easy to overlook when adding the tiles, but it still contributes one point. Premium letter and word squares can raise the board score.

The ending “fer” links TRANSFER with 12 rhyming words, including OFFER, REFER, SUFFER, and DEFER. That rhyme family is more useful for sound-based clues than for anagram solving: none of those words rearranges the exact letters in TRANSFER. The word also has no one-letter neighbours, so a single tile change does not produce a recorded match.

Rhymes with transfer

All rhymes

Questions people ask

Is TRANSFER a valid Scrabble word?
Yes, TRANSFER is playable in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE. Its base tile score is 11 points before any premium-square bonuses. The F contributes four points, while each of the other seven tiles contributes one, so check the word list used by your game.
What are the anagrams of TRANSFER?
TRANSFER has no anagrams recorded for its exact letters. Those letters sort to AEFNRRST, with R appearing twice; no alternate word is recorded from that eight-tile set. For a different arrangement using only some of the letters, try the word finder.
What does transfer mean in public transport?
In public transport, a transfer can be the act of leaving one vehicle and boarding another to continue a journey. The word can also refer to a paper receipt that allowed a bus rider to continue on another bus. It also has the broader meaning of moving something between places or people.

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