Retro
/ˈrɛtroʊ/noun
A style, trend, or design deliberately imitating the past.
Did you know?Retro comes from Latin, where it was a real directional force-word meaning “back” or “backward,” and it survives in modern English in words like retrospect and retrograde.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*re-
“back, again”
Latin
Latin
retro
“back, backward; behind”
Late Latin
Latin
retro-
“a prefix meaning back or backward”
19th Century
English
retro
“used in compounds and abbreviations relating to things backward, reversed, or old-fashioned”
Modern English
English
retro
“a style consciously imitating the past”
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