Profane means showing disrespect for what is sacred. Profane language, the sacred and the profane, a profane gesture.
The sacred and the profane is the standing pair, and in that use profane simply means secular rather than disrespectful — a profane building is one not consecrated. The Latin means outside the temple, which is exactly the older sense.
1adjectiveprofaneShowing disrespect for what is sacred.
“The priest was shocked by the profane jokes told in the church hall.”
profane is a quality.
Latin profanus means outside the temple — pro, before, plus fanum, a temple.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
prophānus
la-cla
profānus — not religious, unclean
Middle French
profane,prophaine,prophane
Middle English
prophane
English, today
profane
Built from
From Middle English prophane, from Middle French profane,prophaine,prophane and its etymon la-cla profānus (“not religious, unclean”) (also Latin prophānus), from pro- (“instead of”) + fānum (“temple”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA