retrait

retrait noun: a picture or other visual representation. Also the obsolete form of retreat.

Noun

retrait (plural retraits)

(obsolete) A picture or other visual representation.
- She is the mighty Queene of Faerie, / Whose faire retrait I in my shield do beare […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

retrait (not comparable)

retrait (not comparable)

(rare) Not shown in full, but cut off at point it touches the edge of the shield, an ordinary, etc, as if retreating or withdrawn into that edge, ordinary, etc. (Compare issuant, naissant.)
- KETHEL in Holland uses, Azure, a pale retrait in chief (i.e., a demi-pal) soutenu by a chevron between three cauldrons or.1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 121
- The blazon : Arms : Per Saltire Gules and Or in fess two pellets pierced and in pale many plates also pierced on a chief Argent issuant as in chief seven pallets retrait two three and two Sable.1988, The Augustan Society Omnibus

retrait is also the obsolete form of retreat.

Noun
plural	retraits
Verb
third-person singular present	retraits
present participle	retraiting
past participle	retraited
past	retraited

From Middle French retrait. Doublet of retract, retreat, and ritratto.

Variant forms.

What does retrait mean?: Retrait means a picture or other visual representation.
What part of speech is retrait?: Retrait can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of retrait?: The plural of retrait is retraits.

Adapted from Wiktionary: retrait (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “retrait.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/retrait. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.