reference book

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

reference book (plural reference books)

1. A book providing factual information.

   Synonym: sourcebook

   Hypernym: reference work

   The Red Book is the standard reference book for those naming inorganic chemical compounds.

2. (library) A book that can be consulted in the library but cannot be borrowed.

   Synonym: book of reference

   I wanted to take out the encyclopedia, but the librarian said it was a reference book.

Translations

book providing factual information

• Arabic: كِتَاب مَرْجِعِيّ m (kitāb marjiʕiyy)
• Belarusian: даве́днік m (davjédnik)
• Bulgarian: спра́вочник (bg) m (správočnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 參考書 / 参考书 (zh) (cānkǎoshū), 工具書 / 工具书 (zh) (gōngjùshū)

• Dutch: naslagwerk (nl) n
• Estonian: teatmeteos
• Finnish: lähdeteos (fi)
• French: livre de référence m
• German: Nachschlagewerk (de) n, Referenzbuch n
• Gujarati: સંદર્ભગ્રંથ (sandarbhagranth)
• Hungarian: segédkönyv (hu)
• Japanese: 参考書 (ja) (さんこうしょ, sankōsho)
• Korean: 참고서(參考書) (ko) (chamgoseo)
• Malayalam: ഗ്രന്ഥം (ml) (granthaṁ)
• Māori: pukatara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: referansebok m or f

  Nynorsk: referansebok f

• Portuguese: livro de consulta m
• Russian: спра́вочник (ru) m (správočnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: leabhar-fiosrachaidh m
• Tagalog: sangguniang aklat
• Thai: หนังสืออ้างอิง (nǎng-sʉ̌ʉ-âang-ing)
• Ukrainian: дові́дник (uk) m (dovídnyk)
• Vietnamese: sách hướng dẫn, sách chỉ dẫn

library: book that may not be borrowed

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 參考書 / 参考书 (zh) (cānkǎoshū), 工具書 / 工具书 (zh) (gōngjùshū)

• Finnish: käsikirjaston kirja
• German: Präsenzbestand m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: referansebok m or f

  Nynorsk: referansebok f

• Portuguese: livro de consulta m
• Tagalog: sangguniang aklat