tomber en ruine

verb

The verdict

“tomber en ruine” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Être dans un tel état de vétusté, de délabrement qu’il en tombe de temps en temps quelque partie, en parlant d'un édifice.

Key facts for tomber en ruine
PropertyValue
Headwordtomber en ruine
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tomber en ruine” sits in French frequency

tomber en ruine falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for tomber en ruine is 15 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Être dans un tel état de vétusté, de délabrement qu’il en tombe de temps en temps quelque partie, en parlant d'un édifice.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tomber en ruine, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tomber en ruine, spelled T-O-M-B-E-R- -E-N- -R-U-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Être dans un tel état de vétusté, de délabrement qu’il en tombe de temps en temps quelque partie, en parlant d'un édifice.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tomber en ruine"?
"tomber en ruine" is spelled T-O-M-B-E-R- -E-N- -R-U-I-N-E.
What does "tomber en ruine" mean?
As a verb, "tomber en ruine" means: Être dans un tel état de vétusté, de délabrement qu’il en tombe de temps en temps quelque partie, en parlant d'un édifice.
What language does "tomber en ruine" come from?
"tomber en ruine" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “tomber en ruine”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is T-O-M-B-E-R- -E-N- -R-U-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list