retirées

Retirées is the feminine plural form of the past participle retiré, meaning withdrawn or retired. In usage, it functions as an adjective agreeing with feminine plural nouns, and can describe women who have withdrawn from public life or who are retired from work.

In standard French, the more common noun for a group of people who have retired is retraitées (feminine plural) or retraités (masculine plural). Therefore, retirées is typically seen as descriptive rather than a fixed noun used to designate a specific demographic group. When intended as a noun, speakers often replace it with the lexical noun retraitée(s) or use a phrase such as des femmes retirées or des personnes retirées du monde.

Etymology traces the term to the verb retirer, meaning to withdraw or to retire, with the related noun retraite meaning retirement or withdrawal. The feminine plural form aligns with gender agreement rules in French for adjectives or past participles used descriptively.

In context, retirées might appear in literary or stylistic writing to emphasize the notion of withdrawal, silence, or disengagement from social or professional life. For precise reference to a formal demographic category, однако, it is more accurate to use retraitées or a descriptive construction such as des femmes qui se sont retirées du travail.

See also: retraite, retraité, retraitée.