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construct: construct: [17] Construct comes from the present participle of Latin construere ‘pile up together, build’, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- and struere ‘pile up’ (source of English destroy and structure). English acquired the same verb somewhat earlier, in the 14th century, in the form construe.
=> construe, destroy, structure
destroy: destroy: [13] As in the case of demolish, to destroy something is almost literally to ‘unbuild’ it. The word comes via Old French destruire from *dēstrūgere, a Vulgar Latin alteration of Latin dēstrūere. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix dē-, denoting reversal of a previous state, and strūere ‘pile up, build’ (source of English construct and structure). Its past participle, dēstructus, has produced English destruction [14], destructive [15], and the verb destruct (recorded once in the 17th century but revived in the 1950s by backformation from destruction).
=> construct, destruction, structure
industry: industry: [15] Industry comes, partly via Old French industrie, from Latin industria, which meant ‘quality of being hard-working, diligence’. This was a derivative of the adjective industrius ‘diligent’, which went back to an Old Latin indostruus, formed from the prefix indu- ‘in’ (see INDIGENOUS) and the element -struus (a relative of the verb struere ‘build’, from which English gets construct, destroy, etc).
=> construct, destroy, structure
instruct: instruct: [15] The -struct of instruct occurs also in construction, destruction, structure, etc. It comes from the past participle of Latin struere ‘build’. In the case of instruct, combination with the prefix in- produced instruere ‘build, prepare, equip, teach’, whose past participle stem instruct- formed the basis of the English verb.
=> construct, destroy, instrument, structure
instrument: instrument: [13] Instrument comes from the same source as instruct: the Latin verb instruere ‘build, prepare, equip, teach’. From it was derived the noun instrūmentum, which meant ‘tool, equipment’. When introduced into English via Old French at the end of the 13th century it was used for a ‘musical instrument’, but the more general ‘implement’ and the metaphorical ‘means’ soon followed in the 14th century.
=> construct, destroy, instruct, structure
strain: strain: English has two distinct words strain. The older, ‘line of ancestry’ [OE], denotes etymologically ‘something gained by accumulation’. It comes from the prehistoric base *streu- ‘pile up’, which was related to Latin struere ‘build’ (source of English destroy, structure, etc). In the Old English period the notion of ‘gaining something’ was extended metaphorically to ‘producing offspring’, which formed the jumping-off point for the word’s modern range of meanings. Strain ‘pull tight, wrench’ [13] was borrowed from estreign-, the stem form of Old French estreindre ‘pull tight, tie’.

This in turn was descended from Latin stringere ‘pull tight, tie tight’ (source also of English strait, strict, and stringent [17] and of a host of derived forms such as constrain [14], prestige, restrain [14] and constrict, district, restrict, etc). Strain ‘tune’ [16] is assumed to be the same word, perhaps deriving ultimately from the notion of ‘stretching’ the strings of a musical instrument.
=> construct, destroy, structure; constrain, constrict, district, prestige, restrain, restrict, strait, strict, stringent
structure: structure: [15] Structure comes via Old French structure from Latin structūra, a noun derived from the past participle of struere ‘build’. Other English words from the same source are construct, construe, destroy, destruction, instruct, and obstruct [17].
=> construct, construe, destroy, destruction, instruct, obstruct, strain
billion (n.): 1680s, from French billion (originally byllion in Chuquet's unpublished "Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres," 1484; copied by De la Roche, 1520); see bi- "two" + million. A million million in Britain and Germany (numeration by groups of sixes), which was the original sense; subsequently altered in French to "a thousand million" (numeration by groups of threes) and picked up in that form in U.S., "due in part to French influence after the Revolutionary War" [David E. Smith, "History of Mathematics," 1925]. France then reverted to the original meaning in 1948. British usage is truer to the etymology, but U.S. sense is said to be increasingly common there in technical writing.
In Italian arithmetics from the last quarter of the fifteenth century the words bilione or duilione, trilione, quadrilione or quattrilione, quintilione, cinquilione, or quinquilione, sestione or sestilione, settilione, ottilione, noeilione and decilione occur as common abbreviations of due volte millioni, tre volte millione, etc. In other countries these words came into use much later, although one French writer, Nicolas Chuquet, mentions them as early as 1484, in a book not printed until 1881. The Italians had, besides, another system of numeration, proceeding by powers of a thousand. The French, who like other northern peoples, took most if not all their knowledge of modern or Arabic arithmetic from the Italians, early confounded the two systems of Italian numeration, counting in powers of a thousand, but adopting the names which properly belong to powers of a million.
For a time in Britain gillion (1961), based on giga-, was tried as "a thousand million" to avoid ambiguity.
construct (v.): early 15c., from Latin constructus, past participle of construere "to heap up" (see construction). Related: Constructed; constructing.
construction (n.): late 14c., from Old French construction or directly from Latin constructionem (nominative constructio), from construct-, past participle stem of construere "pile up together, accumulate; build, make, erect," from com- "together" (see com-) + struere "to pile up" (see structure (n.)).
constructive (adj.): early 15c., "derived by interpretation," from Middle French constructif or from Medieval Latin constructivus, from Latin construct-, past participle stem of construere "to heap up" (see construction). Meaning "pertaining to construction" is from 1817; "having the quality of constructing" is from 1841. Related: Constructively. Constructive criticism is attested by 1841.
construe (v.): late 14c., from Late Latin construere "to relate grammatically," in classical Latin "to build up, pile together" (see construction); also see construct (v.), which is a later acquisition of the same word. Related: Construed; construing; construal.
destroy (v.): early 13c., from Old French destruire (12c., Modern French détruire) "destroy, ravage, lay waste," from Vulgar Latin *destrugere (source of Italian distruggere), refashioned (influenced by destructus), from Latin destruere "tear down, demolish," literally "un-build," from de- "un-, down" (see de-) + struere "to pile, build" (see structure (n.)). Related: Destroyed; destroying.
destruct (v.): "to destroy," 1958, probably a back-formation from destruction in the jargon of U.S. aerospace and defense workers to refer to deliberate destruction of a missile in flight by a friendly agent; popularized 1966 in form self-destruct in the voice-over at the beginning of popular TV spy drama "Mission Impossible." OED records an isolated use of destruct from 17c., in this case probably from Latin destruct-, past participle stem of destruere.
destructible (adj.): 1755, from Late Latin destructibilis, from Latin destructus, past participle of destruere (see destroy).
destruction (n.): early 14c., from Old French destruction (12c.) and directly from Latin destructionem (nominative destructio) "a pulling down, destruction," from past participle stem of destruere "tear down" (see destroy).
destructive (adj.): late 15c., from Old French destructif (14c.), from Late Latin destructivus, from destruct-, past participle stem of Latin destruere (see destroy).
industry (n.): late 15c., "cleverness, skill," from Old French industrie "activity; aptitude" (14c.) or directly from Latin industria "diligence, activity, zeal," fem. of industrius "industrious, diligent," used as a noun, from early Latin indostruus "diligent," from indu "in, within" + stem of struere "to build" (see structure (n.)). Sense of "diligence, effort" is from 1530s; meaning "trade or manufacture" first recorded 1560s; that of "systematic work" is 1610s.
instruct (v.): early 15c., from Latin instructus, past participle of instruere "arrange, inform, teach," literally "to build, erect," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + struere "to pile, build" (see structure (n.)). Related: Instructed; instructing.
instruction (n.): c. 1400, instruccioun, "action or process of teaching," from Old French instruccion (14c.), from Latin instructionem (nominative instructio) "building, arrangement, teaching," from past participle stem of instruere "arrange, inform, teach," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + struere "to pile, build" (see structure (n.)). Meaning "an authoritative direction telling someone what to do; a document giving such directions," is early 15c. Related: Instructions.
instructor (n.): mid-15c., from Old French instructeur and directly from Medieval Latin instructor "teacher" (in classical Latin, "preparer"), agent noun from instruere (see instruct).
instrument (n.): late 13c., "musical instrument," from Old French instrument "means, device; musical instrument" (14c., earlier estrument, 13c.) and directly from Latin instrumentem "a tool, apparatus, furniture, dress, document," from instruere "arrange, furnish" (see instruct). Meaning "tool, implement, utensil" is early 14c. in English; meaning "written document by which formal expression is given to a legal act" is from early 15c.
obstruct (v.): 1610s, a back-formation from obstruction or else from Latin obstructus, past participle of obstruere "to block, to stop up" (see obstruction). Related: Obstructed; obstructing.
obstruction (n.): 1530s, from Latin obstructionem (nominative obstructio) "an obstruction, barrier, a building up," noun of action from past participle stem of obstruere "build up, block, block up, build against, stop, bar, hinder," from ob "against" (see ob-) + struere "to pile, build" (see structure (n.)).
obstructive (adj.): 1610s, from Latin obstruct-, past participle stem of obstruere (see obstruction) + -ive.
structure (n.): mid-15c., "action or process of building or construction;" 1610s, "that which is constructed, a building or edifice;" from Latin structura "a fitting together, adjustment; a building, mode of building;" figuratively, "arrangement, order," from structus, past participle of struere "to pile, place together, heap up; build, assemble, arrange, make by joining together," related to strues "heap," from PIE *stere- "to spread, extend, stretch out."

The widespread descendants of this ancient root are believed to include: Sanskrit strnoti "strews, throws down;" Avestan star- "to spread out, stretch out;" Greek stronymi "strew," stroma "bedding, mattress," sternon "breast, breastbone;" Latin sternere "to stretch, extend;" Old Church Slavonic stira, streti "spread," strama "district;" Russian stroji "order;" Gothic straujan, Old High German strouwen, Old English streowian "to sprinkle, strew;" Old English streon "strain," streaw "straw, that which is scattered;" Old High German stirna "forehead," strala "arrow, lightning bolt;" Old Irish fo-sernaim "spread out," srath "a wide river valley;" Welsh srat "plain."
substruction: " Architecture . The foundations or substructure of a building or other construction, especially (in classical architecture) a substructure which raises the floor of a building above ground level", Early 17th cent.; earliest use found in Henry Wotton (1568–1639), diplomat and writer. From classical Latin substructiōn-, substructiō building of a foundation or substructure, supporting structure, substructure from substruct-, past participial stem of substruere + -iō.