débris

A form of debris — Rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed.

Meanings

noundébris (countable and uncountable, plural débris)
  1. archaiccountableuncountableArchaic spelling of debris.
    1 more example

    The gorge widens out slightly after leaving Pa-tung, giving room for piles of gigantic débris from the neighbouring mountains to obstruct the river and create numerous small rapids, which we surmount in the usual painful manner. The country is wild and desolate-looking in the extreme, and well explains the poverty of the Pa-tung district.

    1898, Archibald John Little, Through the Yang-tse Gorges, 3rd edition, Sampson Low, Marston & Company, →OCLC, page 72

Origin

  1. Frenchdébris
  2. Englishdébris

Unadapted borrowing from French débris.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

débris. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/d%C3%A9bris

MLA

“débris.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/d%C3%A9bris. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “débris,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/d%C3%A9bris.

Source: débris on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.