Maintenance of cartilage thickness and mechanical function depends on the balance between load-induced fluid loss and fluid recovery. While fluid exudation is well-studied experimentally and theoretically, the mechanisms and rates of fluid recovery, particularly under loaded conditions, are relatively under-studied. Although osmotic pressure-induced swelling at free surfaces is widely accepted as the primary fluid recovery mechanism, we demonstrated that sliding induces significant fluid recovery within the cartilage contact interface. While the mechanism (tribological rehydration) underlying the phenomenon remains uncertain, our results suggest a competition between load-dependent interstitial pressure (exudation) and sliding-dependent hydrodynamic pressure (recovery). We quantified the tribological rehydration rate as a function of sliding speed and strain. Tribological rehydration rates increased monotonically with increased sliding speed and strain. During sliding at physiologically-relevant speeds (>100 mm/s) and strains (>15%), tribological rehydration rates typically exceeded 1,000 nm/s, which is 100 times larger than the exudation rates under static conditions at comparable contact pressures and strains. Passive swelling rates by nominally unloaded cartilage contacts were 10 times smaller while free swelling rates were of the same order of magnitude. The results demonstrate a surprising quantitative agreement between tribological rehydration rates and free-swelling rates, which suggests that both contribute independently (osmotic pressure vs. hydrodynamic pressure) and synergistically (outside versus inside the contact area) to fluid and solute recovery. Compared to the exudation rates, the considerably high rehydration rates may help explain why short, infrequent intervals of activity sufficiently hydrate the joint to offset fluid loss from relatively long, infrequent bouts of inactivity.