Etymology

ruinous

R1U1I1N1O1U1S1

Today it means: Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous. Full definition →

Middle English ruynous ← Old French ruinos ← Latin ruīnōsus
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromruīnōsus
  2. Old French · derived fromruinos
  3. Middle English · inherited fromruynous
  4. English todayruinous

From Middle English ruynous, from Old French ruinos, ruineus, from Latin ruīnōsus. By surface analysis, ruin + -ous.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.