# retirement

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement/107380>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 5, 2002, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement/107380 "2002-05-05T11:02:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tomb194086](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@tomb194086](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomb194086)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement/107380/1 "2002-05-05T11:02:30Z")

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when and how did the word “retirement” become what it is today? Wouldn’ retire mean to get tired again like rehire means to hire again.

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement/107380/2 "2002-05-05T11:45:06Z")

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> **[Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's most-trusted online dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/)**
>
> The dictionary by Merriam-Webster is America's most trusted online dictionary for English word definitions, meanings, and pronunciation. #wordsmatter

withdraw, retreat  
Middle French retirer, from re- + tirer to draw  
Date: 1533

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**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement/107380/3 "2002-05-05T12:50:03Z")

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It comes from the French word for “withdraw.” Its first cited usage, in the sense of “to withdraw from office or an official position; to give up one’s business or occupation in order to enjoy more leisure or freedom (esp. after having made a competence or earned a pension),” dates from Pepys’ diary (1667).

Earlier uses meaning “to withdraw to or into a place (or way of life) for the sake of seclusion, shelter, or security” date from about a century prior to that.

The verb tire, meaning to become exhausted, comes instead from Old or Middle English (it’s unclear).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement/107380/4 "2002-05-05T19:40:28Z")

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If some one tires me more than once I can say “You are re-tiring”  
If some one treats me to ice cream I can say “will you re-treat me?”

In Spanish “tirar” (1140) means to pull or draw and the word s common to other romance languages. retirar dates to 1570