retard

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English retarden,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French retarder (“to hold back, delay”)^[3][4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin retardō (“to make slow, delay, hinder”).^[5][4][2] The French verb is recorded in Old French from the 12th century, first in the sense "to put off, delay",^[5] and in Anglo-Norman from the early 13th century.^[6] The Latin verb is formed from re- and tardō (“to make slow, delay”), from tardus (“slow”),^[3][7][8] the source of tardy.^[3][8] The noun is borrowed from French retard (“delay”),^[5][9][10] recorded in French from 1629 and formed from retarder.^[5] The OED takes its offensive sense, a person with an intellectual disability, as a development within English of the sense "slowness", compared with retarded;^[5] the American Heritage Dictionary calls it short for retarded,^[7] and Merriam-Webster derives it from the verb.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To slow down or delay; to hinder: Barnhart dates the verb to about 1477.^[3][11] The MED quotes a poem by Norton, composed about 1477 and copied before 1550, which says that something "gretelye retardith age".^[2] The OED's first record is from 1490, in Caxton's Blanchardyn and Eglantine.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb was first used of holding back a person or thing; from 1525 it was also used of impeding an action or development.^[5] From about 1543 it also meant to put off or postpone.^[5] The intransitive use, to slow down, dates from 1646.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "to hinder; to obstruct in swiftness of course" and "to delay; to put off".^[12] The noun, "delay, slowing down", came from French in the late 18th century: the OED's first record is a letter of Benjamin Franklin of 1781, Etymonline dates it to 1788, and Merriam-Webster to 1768.^[5][4][9] The phrase in retard of, behind, followed in 1830, and the noun was used of the tide (1833) and of the delayed ignition spark in motor vehicles (1903).^[5][10] In North American education and psychology, retard was used from 1909 for a person with an intellectual disability; this use is now offensive and rare.^[5] From 1968 it became a colloquial insult for anyone regarded as slow or stupid,^[5][9] which Green's Dictionary of Slang records from 1967–8 in the United States, with the variant retardo from 1979.^[13] Etymonline notes that the insulting noun, originally American, is stressed on the first syllable, and that retardate (1956) and retardee (1950) were used in the same sense.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1477 – to delay or hinder.^[3][2]
• 1490 – to hold back a person or thing (first OED record).^[5]
• c. 1543 – to put off, postpone.^[5]
• 1646 – intransitive, to slow down.^[5]
• 1781 – noun, delay, slowing.^[5]
• 1830 – in retard of, behind.^[5]
• 1903 – noun, delay of the ignition spark in a motor vehicle.^[5]
• 1909 – noun, a person with an intellectual disability (now offensive).^[5]
• 1968 – noun, a person regarded as stupid (offensive slang).^[5][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To slow down or delay the progress, development or speed of something; to hinder: Cold weather retarded the growth of the seedlings.^[8][9][5]
2. To put off to a later time; to postpone.^[5][12]
3. To slow down, or to undergo retardation.^[5]

Noun

1. A delay or slowing down; retardation.^[9][5][10]
2. In a motor vehicle, an adjustment or device that delays the ignition spark.^[9][5][10]
3. (offensive) A person with an intellectual disability.^[8][9][5]
4. (offensive, slang) A person regarded as foolish or stupid.^{[8][9][5][13]}
5. (archaic) in retard of: behind.^[9][5][10]

Word family

• retarder
• retardingly
• retardate
• retardee
• retarded

Related words

• tardy
• retardation
• retardant

Usage notes

The noun senses for a person are labelled offensive by Collins and Merriam-Webster,^[8][9] and the OED calls the slang sense frequently derogatory and offensive, especially in recent use.^[5] In these senses the noun is stressed on the first syllable, while the verb and the older noun are stressed on the second.^[4][8][10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com