Destroy
/dɪˈstrɔɪ/noun
To ruin, demolish, or put an end to something.
Did you know?Its ancestor in Latin, *dēstruere*, was used for tearing down buildings and structures, so the word began as a very physical undoing before becoming a general word for annihilation.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*streu-
“to spread, stretch out, scatter”
Latin
Latin
struere
“to pile up, build, arrange”
Latin
Latin
dēstruere
“to tear down, demolish, undo a building”
Old French
Old French
destruire
“to destroy, ruin”
Middle English
English
destroyen
“to destroy, ruin”
Modern English
English
destroy
“to ruin, demolish, or put an end to something”
Explore more surprising origins