'deconsecration' originates from Latin, specifically from the prefix 'de-' plus the noun form 'consecratio' (from the verb 'consecrare'), where 'de-' meant 'removal' or 'reversal' and 'consecrare' meant 'to make sacred'.

'deconsecration' developed through Late Latin and Old French influences: Latin 'consecrare/consecratio' passed into Old French and then into Middle English as 'consecracioun'/'consecrate', and the productive Latin prefix 'de-' was added in English to indicate reversal, producing 'deconsecrate' and the noun 'deconsecration'.

Initially the root 'consecrare' meant 'to make sacred'; with the addition of the prefix 'de-' the modern term came to mean 'the removal of sacredness' rather than its establishment.