'Retract' is Latin for 'draw back' — from 'trahere' (to pull). Physical or verbal withdrawal.
To draw back or in; to withdraw a statement, accusation, or promise; to pull back something extended.
From Latin 'retractus,' past participle of 'retrahere' (to draw back, to pull back, to withdraw), from 're-' (back, again) + 'trahere' (to draw, to pull, to drag), from Proto-Indo-European *dhragh- (to draw along, to pull). The word also absorbed influence from the frequentative 'retractāre' (to handle again, to reconsider, to revise, to retract a statement), formed on 'retractus.' The PIE root *dhragh- gave Latin 'trahere' and its many derivatives — 'attract' (to draw toward), 'extract' (to draw out), 'contract' (to draw together), 'distract' (to draw apart), 'subtract' (to draw away from below), 'abstract' (to draw away), 'tractor' (
A cat's claws are 'retractable' — they can be drawn back into the paw. This zoological use of 'retract' is one of the word's most literal applications, preserving the original Latin sense of physically pulling something back, while most modern uses are about withdrawing words rather than objects.