Retract
late Middle English: from Latin retract- ‘drawn back’, from the verb retrahere (from re- ‘back’ + trahere ‘drag’); the senses ‘withdraw (a statement’) and ‘go back on’ via Old French from retractare ‘reconsider’ (based on trahere ‘drag’).
wiktionary
From Late Middle English retracten, retract(“to absorb, draw in”), [1] from Latin retractus(“withdrawn”), the perfect passive participle of Latin retrahō(“to draw or pull back, withdraw; to bring back; to compel to turn back; to recall; to get back, recover; to hold back, restrain, withhold; to remove, take away; to bring to light again; (Late Latin) to delay”), from re-( prefix meaning ‘again’) + trahō(“to drag, pull; to extract, withdraw”) [2] [3] (apparently ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ-(“to drag, pull (?)”), a variant of *dʰregʰ-(“to drag, pull; to run”)). Doublet of retreat.
Partly: [4]
From Middle French rétracter(“to annul; to reconsider; to withdraw”) (modern French rétracter(“to retract; to contract”)), and from its etymonLatin retractāre, the present active infinitive of retractō(“to retract, withdraw; to annul, revoke; to detract from; to undertake again; to reconsider; to remember; to decline, refuse”), from re-( prefix meaning ‘again’) + tractō(“to drag, haul, tug”) (from trahō(“to drag, pull; to extract, withdraw”) (see further at etymology 1) + -tō( frequentative suffix forming verbs)). [3] [5]
etymonline
retract (v.)
early 15c., retracten, "to draw (something) back, draw in, absorb," from Old French retracter (14c.) and directly from Latin retractus, past participle of retrahere "to draw back" (see retraction).
Sense of "to revoke, recant, take back" (an offer, declaration, etc.), is attested from 1540s, probably a back-formation from retraction. Of body parts, etc., "draw or shrink back, draw in," 1660s. Related: Retracted; retracting.
