Kind of exactly like “disable” on an android unless you know the magic incantation for your device to get a third party OS installed.
I deleted iTunes, music app, the games center, and other built-ins on my iPhone and I cannot re-open them again without reinstalling them, so this seems to do more than just remove the icon.
Lol, I had an "Other" folder for the growing set of iOS apps that I didn't use but couldn't delete.