Etymology

retrogarde

R1E1T1R1O1G2A1R1D2E1

Today it means: Descriptive of an art movement, particularly in Slovenia, that looks back to the past, as opposed to avant-garde. Full definition →

French avant
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The story

  1. French · derived fromavant“before”
  2. English todayretrogarde

From avant-garde, with French avant (“before”) replaced with retro- (“pertaining to an earlier time”). Piecewise doublet of rearguard.

Words from the same roots

Frenchavant all →

vauntvamplate

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.