Etymologically
Log in

retrieve

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 23:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹɪˈtɹiːv/, /ɹə-/[1]
  • US: /ɹɪˈtɹiv/, /ɹi-/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English retreven,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French retruev-, also retreuv-, the stressed stem of retrover and Anglo-Norman retruver,[5][6][7] now retrouver, to find again.[5][2] The French verb is formed from re- (“again”) and trover (“to find”),[5][2][6] probably from Vulgar Latin *tropō (“to compose”),[2][3][8] which Etymonline derives from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “a turn, way, manner”), from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”).[2] The Old French verb meant to find something lost again from the 12th century and to regain possession from the mid-14th;[5] the Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1121–25.[9] The Middle English form retreve became “retrive” in the 16th century, a pronunciation the OED shows in rhymes with alive and dive, and the modern spelling dates from the mid-17th century.[2][5] Weekley compares the vowel of beef, people and contrive.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a hunting dog, to find game again, especially to flush out game that has gone to cover: before 1425, in Master of Game by Edward, Duke of York (written about 1410).[5][11][2]

Semantic evolution

The hunting sense, of a dog finding again game that had been lost, is obsolete;[5][8] the noun retrieve (1575) first named the second flight of a bird that had been flushed.[5][8] From the 1560s the verb spread to recovering other things: knowledge of the past, by study (1567, in Golding's Ovid), a person from danger or sin (1568), and lost possessions (1589).[5][11] From 1607 it took abstract objects, a state or quality,[5] and in 1644 it began to mean bringing something back to mind.[5][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to recover; to restore" and "to repair".[12] The modern hunting sense, of a dog finding and bringing back shot game, is recorded from 1814,[5] by 1856 in Etymonline,[2] and the dog called a retriever was first one that set up game again, the modern breed dating from the 19th century.[13][10] Computing use, getting back stored data, dates from 1957,[5] and Etymonline has it by 1962.[2] In sport the noun names a difficult shot returned in tennis or badminton (1913).[5][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1410 – of a dog, to find game again (obsolete by 1826).[5][11]
  • 1567 – to recover knowledge by study.[5][11]
  • 1568 – to rescue, save.[5]
  • 1575 – noun, the second flight of a flushed bird.[5][8]
  • 1589 – to get back, regain possession of.[5]
  • 1644 – to recall to mind.[5][2]
  • 1814 – of a dog, to find and bring back shot game.[5]
  • 1913 – noun, a difficult shot returned in tennis.[5]
  • 1957 – to get back data stored on a computer.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To get or bring something back; to recover: She retrieved her umbrella from the lost-property office.[14][8][5]
  2. Of a dog, to find and bring back shot game.[14][8][5]
  3. (computing) To get back data stored in a computer.[14][5]
  4. To rescue or save from a bad situation.[14][5]
  5. To put right or bring back to a better state: a late goal retrieved the match.[14][5]
  6. To call back to mind; to recall.[14][8][5]
  7. (tennis, badminton, squash) To return a shot that is hard to reach.[14][5]
  8. (obsolete) Of a hunting dog, to find again game that has been lost or has gone to cover.[5][8]

Noun

  1. The act of getting something back; retrieval.[14][8][5]
  2. A gun dog's finding and bringing back of game, as in training or competition.[5][7]
  3. A shot returned successfully from a difficult position.[8][5]
  4. (angling) The reeling in of a line.[8][5]
  5. beyond retrieve (archaic): past recovery.[5]

Word family

  • retrievability
  • retrievable
  • retrievably
  • unretrieved
  • retriever

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  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 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins