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PlainSpell

destroy

de·stroy/dɪˈstɹɔɪ/verb

destroy is spelled D-E-S-T-R-O-Y, 2 syllables: de·stroy. The wrong spelling people search most is destry: about 230 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Destroy is a verb meaning “To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist”.

How many letters and syllables are in destroy?

Letters7: D-E-S-T-R-O-Y
Syllables2: de·stroy
In writing33 times per million words; the 2,888th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched3; the most searched, destry, about 230 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell destroy?

Destroy is spelled D-E-S-T-R-O-Y. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for destroy in either form.

destroythe right spelling1,370 searches a month
destrya missing o230 searches a month
destoryr and o swapped90 searches a month
destroii in place of y10 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is destroy?

Destroy appears 33 times per million words in written English, the 2,888th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce destroy?

  • /dɪˈstɹɔɪ/

Destroy has 2 syllables, split de·stroy in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-destroy.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-destroy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of destroy

  • destroys present, singular, he/she/it
  • destroying participle, present
  • destroyed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does destroy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.

    The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes.

  2. 2

    To neutralize, undo a property or condition.

    Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate.

  3. 3

    To put down or euthanize.

    Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.

  4. 4

    To severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin.

    Her divorce destroyed her; she had a nervous breakdown and was severely depressed for more than a year.

  5. 5

    informalTo utterly defeat; to crush.

    Remember when Germany destroyed Brazil 7–1 in the World Cup?

  6. 6

    To remove data.

    The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists.

  7. 7

    slangTo exhaust completely and thus recreate or build up.

    This exercise is going to destroy all parts of your shoulders.

  8. 8

    slangvulgarTo penetrate sexually in an aggressive way.

    She got destroyed by her lover on the carpet.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Destroy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdétruire (to damage beyond use or repair), euthanasier (to put down or euthanize (e.g. an animal))
Germanzerstören, vernichten, kaputtmachen (to damage beyond use or repair), notschlachten (to put down or euthanize (e.g. an animal))
Portuguesedestruir, estraçalhar, arruinar, destroçar, detonar (to damage beyond use or repair)
Spanishdestruir, romper, destrozar, escocherar, profligar (to damage beyond use or repair), sacrificar (to put down or euthanize (e.g. an animal))

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does destroy come from?

From Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrugō, from Classical Latin dēstruō, from dē- (“un-, de-”) + struō (“to build”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after destroy