Am I the only one...

Sounds younger?????

Sounds better linguistically

retiree

English
Noun
(en noun)
someone who has retired from active working
He has been a retiree since 2001.

I'm a devotee of retirees

Is retirer a word?

Apart from in French?

Not sure I've ever heard retirer used in this context. Retiree does sound better I agree Anja

I don’t think retirer is a word - retiree is commonly used. Some might say a retired person instead. I’m trying to think of examples of similar words but the only one that comes to mind is addressee.

A retirer sounds as if this is a frequent action rather than a state of being.

'Old Bob's a retirer whenever there's any hard work to do.'

Since the word ‘pensioner’ for older people fell out of use both ‘senior’ and ‘retiree’ have appeared more often.

Now Daddima mentions it, it does seem odd. Why for example did we not used to say "pensionees"?

I am always annoyed by 'attendees'. Surely it should be 'attenders'. If these are words which are, or look as if they are, derived from French, then the 'ee' bit suggests something which is done to the people involved (as in divorcé(e)). In English, the ending for someone who does something is 'er'. In which case, I suppose, 'pensionee' would be right, but 'retiree' would be doubtful unless one had been forced to retire against one's will.

Hmm. Perhaps pedantry can be taken a bit too far...

But I still think I'm right about 'attendees'!

It's because "retiree" is the correct term to use! There's no such word as "retirer".

Slightly off topic, but the word that never fails to make me shudder is 'standees' as in 66 seats on bus, 5 standees!

If someone grants me a mortgage, they are the mortgagor and I am the mortgagee. If someone gives me employment they are the employer and I am the employee.

So maybe, in much the same way, when I reach pensionable age, my employer can 'retire' me, so I'm then a 'retiree'. But hang on, does that, then, make my employer the 'retirer'?

JackyB

Now Daddima mentions it, it does seem odd. Why for example did we not used to say "pensionees"?

Maybe because not all 'retirees' are of state pension age (with which I associate the word 'pensioner'? Then add in the fact that, as yet, no one has seen fit to invent the word 'pensionee'

I was just thinking that 'pensionee' would be the right word! Am I a retiree even though I wasn't really ready to retire but the job changed so I wasn't happy to carry on?

There is employee, therefore retiree is about right.