Blasphemy
Etymology
From Greek “blasphēmia” (evil-speaking, slander), from “blaptein” (to injure) plus “phēmē” (speech, report). The very same Greek word, worn down through Old French, also gave English the milder word “blame.” Where blame survived as ordinary fault-finding, blasphemy kept the charged sense of injuring the sacred through words.
noun · /BLAS-fuh-mee/
Speech that shows contempt or irreverence toward God or sacred things.
What it names
Verbal violation of the sacred — and, by extension, any statement treated as unspeakable heresy in a group.
Example
Suggesting the founder had ever been wrong was treated, inside the company, as something close to blasphemy.
Related idea
Sacrilege violates sacred things through action (defiling an object or place); blasphemy commits the offense specifically through speech.