pourrir

\pu.ʁiʁ\

/\pu.ʁiʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“pourrir” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,871. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,871
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
14
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Se décomposer, fermenter, s'altérer, se corrompre, se gâter sous l’action de bactéries.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pourrir · pourrir · French

pourrir · rank #13,871 · 7 variants · 14 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,871
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pouls

Nearest frequency peer: pouls (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « pourrir »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « pourrir » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pourrir vs pouvoir
71% similar
pourrir vs pourris
86% similar
pourrir vs pourrit
86% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pourrir
PropertyValue
Headwordpourrir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pu.ʁiʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#13,871
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pourrir »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.pourrirse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « pouls » (#13,870), « poursuivie » (#13,872), « pou » (#13,869). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pourrir » est au #13,871. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around pourrir (IPA \pu.ʁiʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #13,871 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for pourrir, with forms such as "opurrir", "porurir", and "pourirr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "pouvoir", "pourris", "pourrit", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is pourrir, spelled P-O-U-R-R-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Se décomposer, fermenter, s'altérer, se corrompre, se gâter sous l’action de bactéries.
  2. 2
    Rester, croupir ou s'enfoncer dans un état de délabrement avancé.
  3. 3
    Subir une situation rappelant le fait de pourrir.
  4. 4
    Bourg pourri : voir à bourg.
  5. 5
    Pot pourri : voir à pot.
  6. 6
    Un temps pourri : un temps humide et malsain.
  7. 7
    Rendre très désagréable.
  8. 8
    Complètement gâté.
  9. 9
    Insulter, réprimander.
  10. 10
    Gâter, donner trop de quelque chose à quelqu’un.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les fruits pourrissent quand on les garde trop longtemps.
  2. Il y a eu tant de pluies que le raisin pourrissait sur le cep au lieu de mûrir.

This word in other languages

putrefy(English)pudrir(Español)faulen(Deutsch)gorar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opurrir
  • porurir
  • pourirr
  • pourrirr
  • pourrri
  • ppourrir
  • puorrir

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pourrir - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

opurrir2porurir2pourirr2pourrirr1pourrri2ppourrir1puorrir2
Edit distance from "pourrir"

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 "pourrir"?
"pourrir" is spelled P-O-U-R-R-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pu.ʁiʁ\.
What does "pourrir" mean?
As a verb, "pourrir" means: Se décomposer, fermenter, s'altérer, se corrompre, se gâter sous l’action de bactéries.
What words are commonly confused with "pourrir"?
"pourrir" is commonly confused with "pouvoir", "pourris", "pourrit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pourrir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pourrir" is \pu.ʁiʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pourrir" come from?
"pourrir" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "pourrir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

podcast#13,866piloter#13,863patates#13,859passive#13,858

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

pouls7 variantsplais7 variantslotus7 variantsKlaus7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list