質問: I was reading a manga and a character said: > > 今宵はここまでだ > > 下がって良いぞ > > > After they noticed that the person they were talking to didn't move, they said: > > おい > > 余は退がれと > > 言ったのだ > > > That's why I'm guessing 退がる reads and means the same as 下{さ}がる, but I don't understand how it came to be. It's hard to find something about it on the internet. 退{しさ}る comes up. It seems to have the same meaning as 下{さ}がる in this context, as well as the more modern word 退{しりぞ}く.
回答: ### Reading / Spelling As you noticed, 退がる is not a normal collocation of kanji and okurigana. Referring to my copy of Shogakukan's *Kokugo Dai Jiten* (online version here), 退 has the following recognized *kun'yomi*: * 退る【しさる】 * 退く【しぞく】 * 退く【しりぞく】 * 退ける【しりぞける】 * 退る【すさる】 * 退く【そく】 * 退く【どく】 * 退かす【どかす】 * 退ける【どける】 * 退く【のく】 * 退かす【のかす】 * 退ける【のける】 * 退く【ひく】 * 退ける【ひける】 Despite the impressive number of potential readings, none of them end in ~がる, nor even ~ぐ. ### Origins As you guessed from the context, this appears to be author's license in choosing a non-standard spelling for the verb 下【さ】がる ("to draw back, to leave"). A common synonym for this is indeed 退【しりぞ】く. This kind of cross-use, where the author uses a reading from one word and the spelling from another, is very common in manga. Usually, you'll get furigana to help with the reading, but sometimes those will be omitted.