退

tuì
verb HSK 3 #1,686

Meanings

  1. 1 to retreat
  2. 2 to withdraw
  3. 3 to return (goods)

Characters

Contains the movement radical , indicating motion — specifically motion backward.

Examples

Qǐng wǎnghòu tuì yí bù.
Please step back one step.
Zhè jiàn yīfu kěyǐ tuì ma?
Can I return this piece of clothing?
Tā tuì le yí bù.
He took a step back.

Tips

usage
退货 = return goods. 退款 = refund. Very useful for shopping!

Components

radical
chuò
walking; movement (radical form of 辵)
Wraps the lower-left as the walking radical (side-form of ) — declares 退 a kind of motion. Carries the meaning to step backward, to retreat. Same motion family: (advance), (far), (near), (this). The radical is always written last, after the inner component.
semantic
gěn
firm; stop (here semantic)
Inner — depicts a person turning the head to look back, originally meaning to stop or stand firm against. Combined with the walking radical, the picture is someone walking while looking back: the prototypical retreat. Same family: (very), (root), (heel/follow), (silver).

Stroke Order

退 tuì