rouiller

[ʁu.je]

/[ʁu.je]/ verb

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

The verdict

“rouiller” is uncommon French (frequency #56,233 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,233
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Produire de la rouille sur la surface d’un corps.

Corpus desk

Index FR-rouiller · rouiller · French

rouiller · rank #56,233 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,233
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH roulées

Nearest frequency peer: roulées (+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 « rouiller »

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 « rouiller » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rouiller
PropertyValue
Headwordrouiller
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ʁu.je]
Letters8
Frequency rank#56,233
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « rouiller » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).rouillertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « roulées » (#56,234), « rocaille » (#56,231), « rings » (#56,230). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « rouiller » est au #56,233. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rouiller is uncommon French at frequency #56,233 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ʁu.je]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

rouiller doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is rouiller, spelled R-O-U-I-L-L-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Produire de la rouille sur la surface d’un corps.
  2. 2
    Se couvrir de rouille (pour un objet en fer ou en acier).
  3. 3
    Altérer, affaiblir par manque d’exercice.
  4. 4
    Donner à des végétaux la teinte de la rouille.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les mauvais chemins, et le passage des rivières, où plus d’une fois les fantassins furent dans l’eau jusqu’à la poitrine, avaient rouillé les armes, ruiné les vêtements et surtout les chaussures.
  2. En les examinant, il s’aperçut que la poudre était mouillée et que la pluie avait rouillé les ressorts au point que les batteries ne jouaient plus.

This word in other languages

rust(English)oxidar(Español)rosten(Deutsch)

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 "rouiller"?
"rouiller" is spelled R-O-U-I-L-L-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ʁu.je].
What does "rouiller" mean?
As a verb, "rouiller" means: Produire de la rouille sur la surface d’un corps.
How do you pronounce "rouiller"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rouiller" is [ʁu.je]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rouiller" come from?
"rouiller" 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 "rouiller", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

rocaille#56,231rhapsody#56,229regardai#56,214saborder#56,253

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list