Retard

From Awe

Be careful in the use of the word retard in academic English. There are two uses in current English, one of which is to be avoided.

• The acceptable use is as a verb, 'to retard', with the general meaning of 'to make slower', 'to delay', 'to slow down, or make slower'. This is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, 're-TAH(r)D' (IPA: /rɪt ˈɑː^rd/.
  • This meaning is reflected in the adjective retardant, ('re-TARD-'nt' /rɪt ˈɑː^r dənt/), meaning 'delaying', 'slowing down'. This is perhaps most familiar in its substantive use in the compound fire-retardant - '[a chemical that] slows down the spread of fire'. (The use of such chemicals is now compulsory in the UK, by law, on upholstery, the wood of fire-doors, etc.)
• The current slang meaning of 'retard' as a noun (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable 'REE-tah(r)d', /ˈriː tɑː^rd/, 'a person with learning difficulties', 'a mentally retarded [~backward] person': the sort of human being who is treated with contempt for being less mentally developed than other people around. The use of 'retard' to label such a person is insulting, as showing a lack if sensitivity to problems; to use 'retard' as a general insult for anyone is offensive.

AWE advises you NEVER to use retard as a noun in academic English. It is offensive slang.

Historically, and in some technical fields even today, the noun retard can be used in a sense closely akin to the verb, meaning 'a delay', 'an adjustment of timing in a particular machine to improve its efficiency or working'.

Note

This pattern of shifting stress in words that look identical but belong to two separate word classes is quite common in English. Quirk (1985) (Appendix I.56 B) remarks: "When verbs of two syllables are converted into nouns, the stress is sometimes shifted from the second to the first syllable. The first syllable, typically a Latin prefix, often has a reduced vowel /ə/ in the verb but a full vowel in the noun:

He was conˈvicted (IPA: /kən/ of theft, and so became a ˈconvict (IPA: /kɒn/."

There follows a list of some 57 "words having end-stress as verbs but initial stress as nouns in Br[itish] E[nglish]." Note that "in Am[erican] E[nglish], many have initial stress as verbs also)". Quirk's list is the foundation of AWE's category:shift of stress. Additions have been made from, amongst others, Fowler, 1926-1996.