dépérir

\de.pe.ʁiʁ\

/\de.pe.ʁiʁ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“dépérir” is uncommon French (frequency #52,641 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,641
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - S’affaiblir graduellement jusqu’à l’anéantissement total.

Corpus desk

Index FR-deperir · dépérir · French

dépérir · rank #52,641 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,641
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH dépensées

Nearest frequency peer: dépensées (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « dépérir »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « dépérir » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dépérir
PropertyValue
Headworddépérir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\de.pe.ʁiʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#52,641
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dépérir » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.dépérirtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « dépensées » (#52,640), « déréglementation » (#52,642), « dénudés » (#52,639). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dépérir » est au #52,641. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dépérir is uncommon French at frequency #52,641 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \de.pe.ʁiʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

dépérir has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is dépérir, spelled D-É-P-É-R-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    S’affaiblir graduellement jusqu’à l’anéantissement total.
  2. 2
    Se détériorer graduellement jusqu’à la ruine totale.
  3. 3
    Devenir plus faible avec le temps.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dépérir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. La langue est dure, déformée et relevée à la pointe : c'est la « langue de bois » des paysans allemands. La mastication est difficile, la salive n'est plus retenue dans la bouche et l’animal dépérit considérablement.
  2. L’enfant dépérissait, la mère et la grand-mère se dévoraient d’inquiétude.

This word in other languages

decline(English)declinar(Español)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dépérir"?
"dépérir" is spelled D-É-P-É-R-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \de.pe.ʁiʁ\.
What does "dépérir" mean?
As a verb, "dépérir" means: S’affaiblir graduellement jusqu’à l’anéantissement total.
How do you pronounce "dépérir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dépérir" is \de.pe.ʁiʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dépérir" come from?
"dépérir" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dépérir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dénudés#52,639déduits#52,633décidai#52,632Dutroux#52,630

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list