With regular syncope of intervocalic -d- from earlier ruiden, from Middle Dutch *ruden (attested in derived terms). Probably from Proto-West Germanic *riudijan, whence archaic German reuten (“to uproot, clear”), an ablaut variant of Proto-West Germanic *rodōn, whence Dutch rooien, German roden.
Alternatively compare perhaps ruit (“mange”), regionally also rui, ruide, from Proto-Germanic *hrūþǭ, as hair loss is one of the main symptoms of mange in animals. The latter is probably related with Dutch roof (“scab”), to which compare the variant ruiven above (though the -v- can also be explained as the fortition of an epenthetic -w- in hiatus).
ruien
| Conjugation of ruien (weak) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | ruien | |||
| past singular | ruide | |||
| past participle | geruid | |||
| infinitive | ruien | |||
| gerund | ruien n | |||
| present tense | past tense | |||
| 1st person singular | rui | ruide | ||
| 2nd person sing. (jij) | ruit, rui2 | ruide | ||
| 2nd person sing. (u) | ruit | ruide | ||
| 2nd person sing. (gij) | ruit | ruide | ||
| 3rd person singular | ruit | ruide | ||
| plural | ruien | ruiden | ||
| subjunctive sing.1 | ruie | ruide | ||
| subjunctive plur.1 | ruien | ruiden | ||
| imperative sing. | rui | |||
| imperative plur.1 | ruit | |||
| participles | ruiend | geruid | ||
| 1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion. | ||||