ruina

See also: ruína, ruïna, ruiná, ruină, and ruiną

Asturian

Adjective

ruina

1. feminine singular of ruin

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₃er-

Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew-der.

Latin ruō

Latin ruīnalbor.

German Ruinebor.

Czech ruina

Borrowed from German Ruine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈruɪna]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ruina f

1. ruin

Declension

Declension of ruina (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	ruina	ruiny
genitive	ruiny	ruin
dative	ruině	ruinám
accusative	ruinu	ruiny
vocative	ruino	ruiny
locative	ruině	ruinách
instrumental	ruinou	ruinami

Related terms

• ruinovat
• zruinovat

Further reading

• “ruina”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ruina”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Verb

ruina

1. third-person singular past historic of ruiner

Anagrams

• nuira
• unira
• urina

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ruˈi.na/
• Rhymes: -ina
• Hyphenation: ru‧ì‧na

Noun

ruina f (plural ruine)

1. (archaic) alternative form of rovina

Anagrams

• rauni, unirà, urani, urina

Latin

Etymology

From ruō (“to collapse”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ruˈiː.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ruˈiː.na]

Noun

ruīna f (genitive ruīnae); first declension

1. (singular) a falling down, collapse, ruin, destruction

   Synonyms: dēstrūctiō, lētum, excidium, excidiō, dēmōlītiō, vāstātiō, devāstātiō, perniciēs, pestis, perditiō, exitium

   • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 6.156–157:

     Denique saepe geli multus fragor atque ruina
     grandinis in magnis sonitum dat nubibus alte;

     • Translation by William Ellery Leonard

       And down-pour of swift hail gives forth a sound
       Among the mighty clouds on high; […]

   • 66 BCE, Cicero, Pro Cluentio 35.96:

     vis illa fuit et, ut saepe iam dixi, ruina quaedam atque tempestas et quidvis potius quam iudicium aut disceptatio aut quaestio.

     • Translation by Charles Duke Yonge

       It was all violence, and, as I have said before, a sort of earthquake or tempest,—it was anything rather than a court of justice, or a legal discussion, or a judicial investigation.

2. (plural) ruins, debris
   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 15.424–425:

     nunc humilis veteres tantummodo Troia ruinas
     et pro divitiis tumulos ostendit avorum.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 21.10.10:

     Sagunti ruinae—falsus utinam uates sim—nostris capitibus incident, susceptumque cum Saguntinis bellum habendum cum Romanis est.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. (rare, singular)
      • 77 CE – 79 CE, Plinius Maior, Naturalis Historia 33.4.21 (passim)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ruīna	ruīnae
genitive	ruīnae	ruīnārum
dative	ruīnae	ruīnīs
accusative	ruīnam	ruīnās
ablative	ruīnā	ruīnīs
vocative	ruīna	ruīnae

Related terms

• corruō
• ruīnō
• ruō

Descendants

• Catalan: ruïna
• Emilian: arvéṅna
• Friulian: ruvine
• Italian: ruina, rovina
• Occitan: roïna
• >? Old Galician-Portuguese: roym
  • Galician: ruín
  • Portuguese: ruim
• Piedmontese: ruin-a
• Romansh: ruina, ruegna, ruigna
• Sardinian: arruinu, orroghina, roghina
• Sicilian: ruina
• Venetan: roina, rovina, ruina

Borrowings

• → Albanian: rrënoj
• → Asturian: ruina
• → Belarusian: руі́на (ruína)
• → Galician: ruína
• → German: Ruine
  • → Hunsrik: Ruin
• → Old French: ruine
  • → Middle English: ruyne, ruyen, ruine, ruynne, rewen, ruyn, ruene, ruen, rueyne
    • English: ruin
    • Scots: ruin
  • Middle French: ruyne
    • French: ruine
      • Mauritian Creole: rwinn
      • → German: Ruin
        • → Hunsrik: Ruin
• → Portuguese: ruína
• → Polish: ruina
• → Romanian: ruină
• → Russian: руина (ruina) (learned)
• → Spanish: ruina
• → Ukrainian: руї́на (rujína) (learned)

References

• “ruina”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ruina”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ruina”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the house threatens to fall in (vid. sect. X. 5, note 'Threaten'...): domus ruina impendet
    
  • the house suddenly fell in ruins: domus subita ruina collapsa est
    
  • a breach: iter ruina patefactum
    
  • a breach: patentia ruinis (vid. XII. 1, note ruina...)
    

Polish

ruiny

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₃er-

Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew-der.

Latin ruō

Latin ruīnalbor.

Polish ruina

Learned borrowing from Latin ruīna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ruˈi.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ina
• Syllabification: ru‧i‧na

Noun

ruina f

1. ruin (remains of destroyed construction)
2. (colloquial) broken man, mess, train wreck (someone who is unbalanced and considered a mess; a disaster; one who is suffering personal ruin)

   Synonym: wrak

Declension

Declension of ruina

	singular	plural
nominative	ruina	ruiny
genitive	ruiny	ruin
dative	ruinie	ruinom
accusative	ruinę	ruiny
instrumental	ruiną	ruinami
locative	ruinie	ruinach
vocative	ruino	ruiny

Derived terms

noun

• ruiny

verbs

• rujnować
• zrujnować

Further reading

• “ruina”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “ruina”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ruiner, from Latin ruinare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ru.iˈna/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

a ruina (third-person singular present ruinează, past participle ruinat) 1st conjugation

1. to ruin

Conjugation

    conjugation of ruina (first conjugation, -ez- infix)

infinitive			a ruina
gerund			ruinând
past participle			ruinat
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	ruinez	ruinezi	ruinează	ruinăm	ruinați	ruinează
	imperfect	ruinam	ruinai	ruina	ruinam	ruinați	ruinau
	simple perfect	ruinai	ruinași	ruină	ruinarăm	ruinarăți	ruinară
	pluperfect	ruinasem	ruinaseși	ruinase	ruinaserăm	ruinaserăți	ruinaseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să ruinez	să ruinezi	să ruineze	să ruinăm	să ruinați	să ruineze
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		ruinează			ruinați
	negative		nu ruina			nu ruinați

Derived terms

• ruinare
• ruinat

Related terms

• ruină

Further reading

• “ruina”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrwina/ [ˈrwi.na]
• Rhymes: -ina
• Syllabification: rui‧na

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₃er-

Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew-der.

Latin ruō

Latin ruina

Spanish ruina

Inherited from Latin ruina.

Noun

ruina f (plural ruinas)

1. ruin, decay, wreck (also figurative)
2. decline, downfall
3. (in the plural) ruins

Derived terms

• arruinar

Related terms

• ruinoso

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

ruina

1. inflection of ruinar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “ruina”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025