Etymologically
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destroy

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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
  • 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