diff --git a/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorShellV4.module.css b/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorShellV4.module.css
index cae243f28..ee3d11fab 100644
--- a/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorShellV4.module.css
+++ b/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorShellV4.module.css
@@ -143,7 +143,13 @@
 	position: absolute;
 	top: calc(100% + 6px);
 	left: 0;
+	/* Sized to its widest row. Left to the default shrink-to-fit, an absolute box measures its
+	   available width against the anchor, which is only as wide as the wordmark, so it settled
+	   on min-width and long locales wrapped: "Changer de langue" on two lines, the version split
+	   as "2.0.0-" / "rc.8" (#969). The max-width only keeps it inside the window. */
+	width: max-content;
 	min-width: 232px;
+	max-width: calc(100vw - 24px);
 	/* The trigger sits 13px from the top of a 58px bar, so the menu's first 7px overlap the
 	   titlebar's drag region. Only `.topbar button` is opted out of dragging, and that strip is
 	   the menu's padding, not a row — without this a mousedown on it drags the window out from
@@ -170,6 +176,8 @@
 	cursor: pointer;
 	text-align: left;
 	font: 500 12.5px var(--font-body);
+	/* One line per row, in every locale: the menu grows to fit instead (see .appMenu). */
+	white-space: nowrap;
 	transition: background var(--motion-fast) var(--ease), color var(--motion-fast) var(--ease);
 }
 .appMenuRow:hover,
@@ -188,6 +196,9 @@
 /* Pushes the version to the right edge of the row it shares with "About". */
 .appMenuVersion {
 	margin-left: auto;
+	/* Never squeezed or broken at the hyphen of a pre-release tag like "2.0.0-rc.8". */
+	flex-shrink: 0;
+	white-space: nowrap;
 	color: var(--muted);
 	font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
 	font-size: 11.5px;
diff --git a/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorTopBar.test.tsx b/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorTopBar.test.tsx
index f5239a21a..f357f1121 100644
--- a/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorTopBar.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ai-edition/v4/EditorTopBar.test.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 // @vitest-environment jsdom
 import "@testing-library/jest-dom";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
 import { act, fireEvent, render, screen, waitFor } from "@testing-library/react";
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { TooltipProvider } from "@/components/ui/tooltip";
@@ -447,3 +449,29 @@ describe("EditorTopBar responsive affordances and tooltips", () => {
 		expect(screen.queryByRole("button", { name: "topbar.changeLanguage" })).not.toBeInTheDocument();
 	});
 });
+
+// jsdom does not lay anything out, so it cannot show a row wrapping. What it can pin is the
+// sizing contract that stops it: in French the menu used to settle on its min-width, wrapping
+// "Changer de langue" and splitting the version as "2.0.0-" / "rc.8" (#969).
+describe("AppMenu sizing (issue #969)", () => {
+	const css = readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, "EditorShellV4.module.css"), "utf8");
+	const rule = (selector: string) => {
+		const body = css.match(new RegExp(`\\n\\.${selector}\\s*\\{([^}]*)\\}`))?.[1];
+		expect(body, selector).toBeDefined();
+		return body ?? "";
+	};
+
+	it("sizes the menu to its widest row", () => {
+		expect(rule("appMenu")).toMatch(/^\s*width:\s*max-content;/m);
+	});
+
+	it("keeps every row on one line", () => {
+		expect(rule("appMenuRow")).toMatch(/white-space:\s*nowrap/);
+	});
+
+	it("never squeezes or breaks the trailing value", () => {
+		const version = rule("appMenuVersion");
+		expect(version).toMatch(/white-space:\s*nowrap/);
+		expect(version).toMatch(/flex-shrink:\s*0/);
+	});
+});