ruffian
\ʁy.fjɑ̃\
The verdict
“ruffian” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Débauché, homme qui vit avec des femmes de mauvaise vie.
Corpus desk
Index FR-ruffian · ruffian · French
ruffian · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ruffian |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʁy.fjɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « ruffian » en français
Rare enough to double-check
ruffian is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʁy.fjɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ruffian, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, 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 ruffian, spelled R-U-F-F-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1Débauché, homme qui vit avec des femmes de mauvaise vie.
- 2Maquereau, entremetteur, proxénète.
- 3Voyou.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ruffian appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Les jeunes [hommes] ont […] des figures de ruffians sous des boucles gommées : je les soupçonne fort de trafiquer de leurs sœurs.
Puis il hoche un menton indulgent et averti, et pince sa moustache d’écuyer de manège, tandis que ses yeux de ruffian détaillent Antoine, découvrant en lui la poire, la poire bénie…
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.