Destroy

How to spell destroy

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce destroy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does destroy mean?

1. verbTo damage something so severely that it no longer exists or can no longer be used.

Destroy in a sentence

• The fire could destroy every document in the basement archive.

• One careless update can destroy years of saved work.

Where does destroy come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travelled into English from Latin by way of Old French. The Latin source was destruere, formed from the prefix de-, meaning 'down' or 'reverse', and struere, meaning 'to build' or 'to pile up'. The literal sense was therefore 'to unbuild' or 'to pull down what has been constructed', a neat image of demolition working in the opposite direction to building. English picked it up around the early 1200s through Old French destruire, and over time it broadened from tearing down structures to ruining or killing in a general way. The same struere root quietly sits inside 'structure', 'construct', and 'instruct', which is a useful reminder that the inner spelling is -stroy from a 'building' word, not -stroi or -stray.

How the word is built

• de- (down, reverse)
• -stroy (from Latin struere: to build, pile up)