Retired

How to spell retired

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce retired

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does retired mean?

1. adjectiveHaving permanently left one's job or career, usually because of age.
2. verbStopped working at the end of a career, or withdrew from a place or activity.

Retired in a sentence

• adjective

  The retired teacher now spends her mornings gardening.

• verb

  She retired from the company after thirty years of service.

• adjective

  Many retired couples move closer to their grandchildren.

• verb

  The exhausted hikers retired to their tents before nightfall.

Where does retired come from?

Language of origin: French

The word descends from the French retirer, which combined re-, meaning 'back', with tirer, meaning 'to draw' or 'to pull', so the literal sense was 'to draw oneself back'. English adopted it in the 1500s, first describing the act of withdrawing from a place, from danger, or from company, much as an army might pull back from battle. From that idea of withdrawal grew the modern meaning of stepping back from working life, along with the sense of going off to bed for the night. The form 'retired' is simply the past tense and the adjective built with the regular -ed ending. A useful spelling note: 'retired' is an exact letter-for-letter anagram of 'retried', so the order of the middle letters is the only thing standing between the two words.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• tire (from Old French retirer: to draw back)
• -ed (past/adjective suffix)