destroy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈstrɔɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English destruen, later destroien,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French destruire (“to destroy, ravage, lay waste”),^[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *dēstrūgere, a refashioning influenced by the past participle dēstrūctus^[3][5] of Latin dēstruere (“to tear down, demolish”), literally “to unbuild”,^[2][3] from dē- “un-, down” and struere “to pile up, build”,^[2][6] from Proto-Indo-European *stere- (“to spread”).^[2] Italian distruggere is from the same Vulgar Latin verb.^[2] It is related to destruction, structure and construct.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To overthrow, lay waste or ruin: probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[3] about 1200 in Etymonline.^[2] The OED has “to lay waste, ravage” from before 1225, and “to pull down what has been built” from 1297.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From about 1300 it was used for killing living beings and for putting an end to something, such as an institution.^[2][7] To break into useless pieces is from about 1314,^[7] and to make useless or spoil from 1542.^[7] In law, to make invalid, it is from 1818.^[7] To defeat completely, as in sport, is a later informal sense.^[8][9] Destroyer is before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.^[3]

Timeline

• a. 1200 – to lay waste, ruin.^[3]
• 1297 – to pull down.^[7]
• c. 1300 – to kill; to put an end to.^[2]
• a. 1382 – destroyer.^[3]
• 1542 – to make useless.^[7]
• 1818 – in law, to invalidate.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To damage something so badly that it no longer exists or works.
2. To put an end to; to ruin: destroy someone's hopes.
3. To kill an animal, especially one that is sick or dangerous.
4. To defeat completely.

Word family

• destroyable
• undestroyed
• destroyer
• destroyer escort
• destroying angel

Related words

• destruct
• destructible
• destruction
• destructive
• structure
• construct
• instruct

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins