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"to destroy" in seven languages

Meaningto destroy

Spanish

destruir

/destɾuˈiɾ/

inherited

French

détruire

/detʁɥiʁ/

inherited

Italian

distruggere

/disˈtruddʒere/

inherited

Portuguese

destruir

/dʒistɾuˈih/

inherited

Romanian

distruge

/disˈtrudʒe/

inherited

Like Italian distruggere, it continues the spoken form *DĒSTRŪGERE.

Catalan

destruir

/dəstɾuˈi/

inherited

English

destroy

/dɪˈstɹɔɪ/

from Latin/French · Old French destruire

English → Italianto destroydistruggereCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

DĒSTRUERE (spoken *DĒSTRŪGERE)‘to pull down, demolish’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Spoken Latin remade DĒSTRUERE as *DĒSTRŪGERE after its past tense DĒSTRŪXĪ: hence Italian distruggere and French détruire. Spanish destruir keeps the classical shape.

English relatives: destruction, structure, construct, instrument

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esEl incendio destruyó la vieja iglesia.
  • frL'incendie a détruit la vieille église.
  • itL'incendio ha distrutto la vecchia chiesa.
  • ptO incêndio destruiu a velha igreja.
  • roIncendiul a distrus biserica veche.
  • caL'incendi va destruir l'antiga església.
  • enThe fire destroyed the old church.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words