Disruption
Etymology
From Latin "disruptio" ("a breaking apart"), from "dirumpere" (to burst). The specialized business meaning comes from Clayton Christensen’s 1997 "The Innovator’s Dilemma," which framed "disruptive" technologies — though the word is now loosely applied to almost any change.
noun · /dis-RUP-shun/
In business, the process by which a scrappy new entrant upends an established market, often by serving overlooked customers first.
What it names
A precise handle for how industries get overturned from below — not by beating incumbents at their game, but by changing the game.
Example
Streaming’s disruption of the video-rental business began with a service mailing cheap DVDs to people the chains ignored.
Related idea
Innovation is simply making something new or better; disruption is the narrower pattern in which a humble newcomer displaces the leaders entirely.