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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

退

tuì
to step back; to move backwards
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 辵
  • 10 strokes

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Origin

In oracle bone script, ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 皀 (“food vessel”) + 夊 (“downward foot”) – to leave the table after eating. Variants that depicted the vessel as 酉 or 豆 were common. Bronze inscriptions added 彳 to emphasize the action of walking away.

In the modern form the vessel 皀 has simplified to the unrelated 艮, similar to ⾷, 即, 既, 郷.

Shuowen misinterprets the seal script form as ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 彳 (“move”) + 夊 (“walk”) + 日 (“sun”) – to walk away from the sun, to retreat.

Uncertain. Schuessler (2007) compares the word family represented by 駾 (OC *l̥ʰoːds, “to withdraw”) and 脫 (OC *l̥ʰoːd, *l'oːd, “to strip off”), as well as, tentatively, Mon [script needed] (dui, “to stop, keep quiet, stay put”). However, the Old Chinese reconstructions instead suggest a connection with 入 (OC *njub, “to enter”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese皀 “Prepared food, a vessel full of food (as in 即 and 既, in which is simplified)”
  • ideaChinese辵 “to walk for a while and be still for a while”
    • ideaChinese彳 “to walk slowly”
    • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • ideaChinese夊 “of going, slow”
  • ideaChinese日 “Sun”

Words built on it: 腿, 退休, 退出

Meanings

character
  1. to step back; to move backwards
  2. to withdraw; to leave
  3. to cause to move backward
  4. to recede; to fade; to ebb
  5. to return (a purchase, etc.); to refund
  6. to cancel; to call off

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 向後倒行、移動。與進相對。 例：後退、撤退、進退兩難
  2. 使後退。 例：退敵
  3. 畏縮。 例：退卻、退懦、退縮不前
  4. 謙讓。 例：謙退、退讓
  5. 離開位置、卸下職務。 例：退席、退休、功成身退
  6. 取消、撤除。 例：退約、退租、退婚

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 退 was written 字形演變

  1. 退 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 退 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 退 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 退 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 退 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 退