ruín

From ruína, or from a Vulgar Latin root *ruīnus, ultimately from Latin ruīna. Compare Portuguese ruim, Spanish ruin, Catalan roí.

• IPA^(key): /ruˈiŋ/ [ruˈiŋ]
• Rhymes: -iŋ
• Hyphenation: ru‧ín

ruín m or f (plural ruíns)

1. bad
   • 1555, Hernán Núñez, Refranes en Romance:

     As veces ruyn gadela roy boa correa

     Sometimes a bad bitch gnaws a good leash

   Synonyms: malo, mao

2. mean, miserly, stingy

   Synonyms: cutre, mesquiño

3. shoddy, of bad quality
   • 1805, anonymous, "Representación dos veciños da Pontedeva", in Ramón Mariño Paz, 2008, Papés d'emprenta condenada. A escrita galega entre 1797 e 1846, page 21-23:

     non pode querer ó noso Rey que lle paguemos un carto polo neto do viño, que non podemos vender á ochavo. Os probes non comemos mais ca un pouco de pan, ou bróa ruin, e unhas berzas sin adubo. Si nos quita a pinga do viño, ¿que forza emos ter para traballar as terras?

     our King can't pretend that we pay a quarter by each pint of wine [we consume], when we can't even sell it for half a quarter. We the poor people eat but a little bread, or bad black bread, and some greens without seasoning. If He takes this little wine, what strength we'll have left for working the lands?

   Synonyms: cativo, cutre, mesquiño, perralleiro

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “ruin”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “ruin”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “ruín”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “ruín”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “ruín”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN