dégringolade

If dégringolade looks French to you, you have a good eye. We lifted this noun directly from French, and even in English it is usually styled with an acute accent over the first "e," as in French. The French noun in turn comes from the verb dégringoler ("to tumble down"), which itself derives from the Middle French desgringueler (from des-, meaning "down," and gringueler, meaning "to tumble"). Although dégringolade retains the sense of a sudden tumble in English, it tends to be applied to more metaphorical situations - a rapid fall from a higher position in society, for example. These days, dégringolade is fairly rare in American English. We rely far more heavily on its familiar synonym downfall.