demolish: [16] To demolish something is etymologically to ‘deconstruct’ it. The word comes from demoliss-, the stem of Old French demolir, which in turn came from Latin dēmōlīrī ‘throw down, demolish’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix dē-, denoting reversal of a previous condition, and mōlīrī, which among other things meant ‘build, construct’. This was a derivative of mōles ‘mass, huge mass, massive structure’ (source of English mole ‘harbour wall’ and molecule). => mole, molecule
demolish (v.)
1560s, from Middle French demoliss-, present participle stem of démolir "to destroy, tear down" (late 14c.), from Latin demoliri "tear down," from de- "down" (see de-) + moliri "build, construct," from moles (genitive molis) "massive structure" (see mole (n.3)). Related: Demolished; demolishing.
