Prefix · backward / in the past
Signals backward movement or reference to the past: retroactive, retrospective, retrofit, retrograde.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
Retro- comes from Latin "retro" (backward, behind) and signals movement toward the past or the reverse direction: retroactive = having effect backward (over things that already happened); retrospective = looking backward in time; retrofit = adapt an old thing with new components; retrogressive = going backward (regressive). The core idea is "toward the past" or "in reverse."
In culture and design, "retro" alone (without a hyphen) describes styles that evoke past decades: retro fashion, retro design, retro gaming. Also: retronym = a new name coined for an old thing to distinguish it from a newer version (e.g. "acoustic guitar" created when electric guitars appeared). In space technology: retrograde (movement in the opposite direction) and retrorocket (a braking rocket).
Attaches to adjectives and nouns. Identical in Spanish and English:
Pronunciation: /ˈretrəʊ/. Identical in Spanish and English. "Retro" alone (as an informal adjective or noun) describes something with a nostalgic aesthetic from past decades.
retro-/ˈretrəʊ/
Tap the button to hear how the prefix sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
A retroactive law affects things that already happened before it was passed. This is ethically contentious in law (the non-retroactivity principle) because it changes rules after the fact. A rule that only applies to future events is "prospective," not retroactive.
"Retro" can refer to any earlier period perceived as nostalgic: the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or even 90s. What makes something "retro" is that it deliberately evokes the aesthetic of a past decade as a stylistic choice, not simply that it is old.
A trick to remember it
Retro- = "backward" or "retrospective": retroactive = affecting the past, retrospective = a look backward, retrograde = moving backward. Identical in Spanish and English. "Retro" alone = nostalgic aesthetic of past decades. Antonym: "prospective" (prospectivo = toward the future).
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"The gallery opened a ___ of her work covering forty years, from her earliest to her most recent pieces."
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
What is a "retronym"?
The prefix retro- signals backward movement or reference to the past: retroactive, retrospective, retrofit, retrograde. In Spanish it usually maps to retro-.
The prefix retro- is pronounced /ˈretrəʊ/. For example, "retroactive".
"active" becomes "retroactive". It is a typical example of the retro- prefix.
un-, re-, pre-, dis-, over-, in-... every beginning you need to unlock thousands of English words at once.