Etymology

destructive

de·struc·tive
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Today it means: Causing destruction; damaging. Full definition →

Middle English destructyve ← Middle French destructif ← Latin dēstrūctīvus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromdēstrūctīvus
  2. Middle French · derived fromdestructif
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdestructyve
  4. English todaydestructive

From Middle English destructyve, from Middle French destructif, from Latin dēstrūctīvus, from past participle of dēstruere (“to tear down, destroy”) + -īvus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.