From Latin 'destruere' (to un-build) — literally the opposite of 'construct,' worn smooth by Old French into 'destroy.'
To put an end to the existence of something by damaging it beyond repair; to ruin completely.
From Old French 'destruire' (to destroy, demolish, ruin), from Vulgar Latin *dēstrūgere, an alteration of classical Latin 'dēstruere' (to pull down, demolish, unbuild, take apart), composed of 'dē-' (un-, down, apart, reversal) + 'struere' (to pile up, to build, to arrange in layers), from PIE *strew- (to spread, to strew, to scatter). The word means, at its core, to 'unbuild' — to reverse the act of construction, to take apart what was piled up. PIE *strew- produced Latin 'struere' and through it an enormous English word family: 'structure' (something built), 'construct' (build together), 'instruct' (build into the mind), 'obstruct' (build against), '
The word 'destroy' is the same Latin word as 'destruct,' but they arrived in English by different paths six centuries apart. 'Destroy' came through Old French 'destruire' in the thirteenth century, worn smooth by centuries of French pronunciation. 'Destruct' was back-formed from 'destruction