退役
tuì yì · HSK 7
to retire from the military
🎖️ 退 retreat + 役 (military) service = withdraw from duty, i.e. retire/decommission
役 means service or conscripted duty; 退 means to withdraw or step back. Together: stepping back from service — what a soldier or athlete does when they retire.
退 — walk radical 辶 + 艮 (stop/halt)
退 combines the walking/movement radical 辶 with 艮, which carries a sense of stopping or turning back. Together they depict the action of moving backward or withdrawing. The original sense of retreating or stepping back has remained stable through history.