retiring
/ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
retiring is spelled R-E-T-I-R-I-N-G: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, retiring means “introverted, liking privacy and seclusion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in retiring?
| Letters | 8: R-E-T-I-R-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.3 times per million words; the 9,594th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is retiring?
Retiring appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce retiring?
- /ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/
Retiring has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-retiring.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of retiring
- retirings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does retiring mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
introverted, liking privacy and seclusion.
I don't really know him well, since he's so shy and retiring.
noun
- 1
retirement
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of retire
Today is the party for our retiring co-workers.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).