debris

de·bris/dəˈbɹiː/noun

debris is spelled D-E-B-R-I-S: 6 letters and 2 syllables (de·bris). It appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, debris means “Rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in debris?

Letters	6: D-E-B-R-I-S
Syllables	2: de·bris
In writing	8.3 times per million words; the 8,036th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Rhymes with	we me she see more

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is debris?

Debris appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th most frequent word form in the list.

debris0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

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

How do you pronounce debris?

UK /ˈdɛbɹi/
UK /ˈdeɪbɹi/
US /dəˈbɹiː/

Debris has 2 syllables, split de·bris in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-debris.wav, En-us-debris.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with debris?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as debris from its last stressed vowel (/i/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

What does debris mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

1
Rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed.
2
Litter and discarded refuse.
3
Large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc.

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

Debris in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	débris (rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of…)
German	Trümmer, Schutt, Ruinen, Geröll (rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of…), Müll (litter and discarded refuse)
Portuguese	destroços, detritos (rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of…), lixo, restos (litter and discarded refuse), moreia, morena (large rock fragments left by a melting glacier…)
Spanish	escombros, restos, detritus, detrito, detritos, escombro (rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of…)

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 debris come from?

Borrowed from French débris, itself from dé- (“de-”) + bris (“broken, crumbled”), or from Middle French debriser (“to break apart”), from Old French debrisier, itself from de- + brisier (“to break apart, shatter, bust”), from Frankish *bristijan, *bristan, *brestan (“to break violently, shatter, bust”), from Proto-Germanic *brestaną (“to break, burst”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrest- (“to separate, burst”). Cognate with Old High German bristan (“to break asunder, burst”), Old English berstan (“to break, shatter, burst”), German bersten (“to burst”). More at burst.