retrieve
UK: rɪˈtriːv | US: rɪˈtriːv
vt. to get or bring something back
vt. to recover or regain something lost
vt. (computing) to access or extract stored data
retrieve = re<again> + trieve<find>
- re: A Latin prefix meaning "again" or "back," indicating repetition or restoration.
- trieve: Derived from Old French trover (to find), which evolved from Latin tropare (to compose or invent). Over time, trieve came to mean "to find" in Middle English.
Etymology Origin:
The word retrieve entered English in the 14th century from Old French retreuver (to find again), combining re- (again) and treuver (to find). The Latin root tropare originally referred to musical composition but shifted semantically to "discover" in Vulgar Latin. This reflects the idea of "finding anew" or "recovering what was lost," which aligns with its modern meanings in both physical and digital contexts.
The dog was trained to retrieve the ball.
She managed to retrieve her lost keys from the taxi.
The software can retrieve deleted files from the hard drive.
Archaeologists hope to retrieve ancient artifacts from the shipwreck.
He struggled to retrieve his confidence after the failure.