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PlainSpell

ruin

/ˈɹuː.ɪn/noun, verb

ruin is a noun meaning “The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-U-I-N and has 2 syllables, and it appears 20 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of ruin is ruins.

What does ruin mean?

noun

  1. 1

    The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.

  2. 2

    The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.

    The monastery has fallen into ruin.

  3. 3

    Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.

    Gambling has been the ruin of many.

  4. 4

    The act of ruining something.

  5. 5

    Clipping of ruined orgasm

  6. 6

    obsoleteA fall or tumble.

  7. 7

    A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.

    the ruin of a ship or an army

  8. 8

    Complete financial loss; bankruptcy.

verb

  1. 1

    To cause the fiscal ruin of; to bankrupt or drive out of business.

    With all these purchases, you surely mean to ruin us!

  2. 2

    To destroy or render something no longer usable or operable.

    He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.

  3. 3

    To destroy (e.g. a city) so as to leave ruins.

  4. 4

    To upset or overturn the plans or progress of, or to have a disastrous effect on something.

    My car breaking down just as I was on the road ruined my vacation.

  5. 5

    To make something less enjoyable or likeable.

    I used to love that song, but being assaulted when that song was playing ruined the song for me.

  6. 6

    To make (someone) have a ruined orgasm.

  7. 7

    To reveal the ending of (a story); to spoil.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo fall into a state of decay.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce ruin?

  • US /ˈɹuː.ɪn/
  • US [ˈɹuwɪn]

Ruin has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ruin.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of ruin

  • ruins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • ruining participle, present
  • ruined participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is ruin?

Ruin appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Ruin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchruine (remains of destroyed construction), ruiner (to cause the economical ruin of), abîmer, foutre en l'air, massacrer (to destroy), gâcher (to spoil)
GermanRuine (remains of destroyed construction), ruinieren, auf die Knie zwingen, vernichten (to cause the economical ruin of), kaputtmachen (to destroy), Ruin (the state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed)
Portugueseruína (remains of destroyed construction), arruinar (to cause the economical ruin of), destruir, acabar com (to spoil)
Spanishruina (remains of destroyed construction), desbaratar, arruinar (to cause the economical ruin of), ruinar, estropear (to destroy), dar al traste (to spoil)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does ruin come from?

From Middle English ruyne, ruine, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruīna (“overthrow, ruin”), from ruō (“to fall down, tumble, sink in ruin, rush”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).