entry
ruin
/ˈɹuː.ɪn/destruction; collapse into uselessness
From Latin ruin / ruere (to rush down).
from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down" (source also of Old French ruine "a collapse," Spanish...
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English ruyne, ruine
from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down" (source also of Old French ruine "a collapse," Spanish...
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down" (source also of Old French ruine "a collapse," Spanish...
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English ruyne, ruine
from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down" (source also of Old French ruine "a collapse," Spanish...
+1 more sourceA building does not need a cannonball to become a ruin; sometimes it just gives up a stone at a time, the way a tired hill finally slides. Romans had the perfect verb for that kind of collapse, ruere, “to rush down,” and they built ruīna from it — the noun for the actual tumble. By the late 1300s, English was using the word not just for falling walls, but for fallen fortunes, fallen governments, and the sort of personal disgrace that leaves a life looking like a bombed-out manor. It sits in the same rough-and-ready family as rough, because both ultimately point to violent tearing and smashing, not polite decline. So when you say something is in ruins, you are not talking about quiet aging; you are hearing the sound of the whole thing going down at once.
The Story
A building does not need a cannonball to become a ruin; sometimes it just gives up a stone at a time, the way a tired hill finally slides. Romans had the perfect verb for that kind of collapse, ruere, “to rush down,” and they built ruīna from it — the noun for the actual tumble. By the late 1300s, English was using the word not just for falling walls, but for fallen fortunes, fallen governments, and the sort of personal disgrace that leaves a life looking like a bombed-out manor. It sits in the same rough-and-ready family as rough, because both ultimately point to violent tearing and smashing, not polite decline. So when you say something is in ruins, you are not talking about quiet aging; you are hearing the sound of the whole thing going down at once.
Modern Usage
to dominate completely or have intense sex with someone, leaving them emotionally or physically overwhelmed
Popularized by: Urban Dictionary-style internet slang and meme usage
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries
Kin & Kindred
From 'ruin / ruere'·to rush down, fall violently, collapse
Derived Terms
English words from this root