ritardo

Forms

ritardo m (plural ritardi)^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from the verb ritardare “to delay”.^[2][3][4][5] The verb, recorded from 1282, is a learned word, borrowed from Latin retardō (“to delay, hold back”), from tardō (“to delay”) with the prefix re-, “to delay further”.^[2][3] The same Latin verb gave French retarder and Spanish retardar.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Lorenzo de' Medici, before 1492, with the sense “the act of delaying”: in his Simposio a man “stopped his pace and made a delay” (fermò il suo passo, e fe' ritardo).^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the 17th century the noun is used for arriving or doing something after the set time, and for the length of that delay.^[7] Tommaseo regarded essere in ritardo as a French turn of phrase.^[6] In music ritardo is the suspension, a note of a chord prolonged into the next one, explained by Giovanni Battista Martini in 1774.^[2]

The 20th century added riguadagnare il ritardo, to make up lost time (1939–1940), the sense “slowing down” (1939–1940) and ritardo mentale, slowed intellectual development (1973).^[2] In pharmacology ritardo is used after a noun as an invariable adjective for slow-release preparations.^[8][9][10]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the verb ritardare.^[2][3]
• Before 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses ritardo.^[2]
• 1774 – Giovanni Battista Martini uses it for the musical suspension.^[2]
• 1939–1940 – Palazzi records riguadagnare il ritardo.^[2]
• 1973 – Ritardo mentale is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A delay: being later than expected or agreed: Ci scusiamo per il ritardo della consegna.^{[4][11][8][1]}
2. The length of a delay: Il volo è partito con un'ora di ritardo.^[4][11][10]
3. Hesitation, delay in acting: Bisogna intervenire senza ritardo.^[4][11][9]
4. Slowing down, lag.^[4][8][10]
5. (music) A suspension: one or more notes of a chord held into the following chord.^[4][11][10]
6. (psychology) Ritardo mentale: intellectual development below what is normal for a person's age.^[11][8][1]
7. (pharmacology, invariable adjective) Slow-release: un farmaco ritardo.^[4][8][9]

Word family

• ritardista

Related words

• ritardare
• Latin retardō

Usage notes

In ritardo means late: essere in ritardo, arrivare in ritardo.^[11][10][1] Ritardo di marea in geography is the interval between the moon's passing the meridian and high tide.^[11][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 16, 922
8. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier