sacrilege

Meaning

Noun

• Desecration, profanation, misuse or violation of something regarded as sacred.

Origin

• Circa 1300, original sense “stealing something sacred”. From Middle English sacrilege, from Old French sacrilege, from Latin sacrilegium, from sacrilegus, from phrase sacrum legere, from sacrum (from sacer) + legō, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- and *leǵ-. Sense of “profanation” from late 14th century.
• Unrelated to religion, which is ultimately from ligō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ-.