What does the root of a word mean

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A root (or root word) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements.^[1] In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach.^[2][3] The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family (this root is then called the base word), which carries aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents.
Content words in nearly all languages contain, and may consist only of, root morphemes. However, sometimes the term «root» is also used to describe the word without its inflectional endings, but with its lexical endings in place. For example, chatters has the inflectional root or lemma chatter, but the lexical root chat. Inflectional roots are often called stems, and a root in the stricter sense, a root morpheme, may be thought of as a monomorphemic stem.

The traditional definition allows roots to be either free morphemes or bound morphemes. Root morphemes are the building blocks for affixation and compounds. However, in polysynthetic languages with very high levels of inflectional morphology, the term «root» is generally synonymous with «free morpheme». Many such languages have a very restricted number of morphemes that can stand alone as a word: Yup’ik, for instance, has no more than two thousand.

The root is conventionally indicated using the mathematical symbol √; for instance, the Sanskrit root «√bhū-» means the root «bhū-«.

Examples[edit]

The root of a word is a unit of meaning (morpheme) and, as such, it is an abstraction, though it can usually be represented alphabetically as a word. For example, it can be said that the root of the English verb form running is run, or the root of the Spanish superlative adjective amplísimo is ampli-, since those words are derived from the root forms by simple suffixes that do not alter the roots in any way. In particular, English has very little inflection and a tendency to have words that are identical to their roots. But more complicated inflection, as well as other processes, can obscure the root; for example, the root of mice is mouse (still a valid word), and the root of interrupt is, arguably, rupt, which is not a word in English and only appears in derivational forms (such as disrupt, corrupt, rupture, etc.). The root rupt can be written as if it were a word, but it is not.

This distinction between the word as a unit of speech and the root as a unit of meaning is even more important in the case of languages where roots have many different forms when used in actual words, as is the case in Semitic languages. In these, roots (semitic roots) are formed by consonants alone, and speakers elaborate different words (belonging potentially to different parts of speech) from the root by inserting different vowels. For example, in Hebrew, the root ג-ד-ל g-d-l represents the idea of largeness, and from it we have gadol and gdola (masculine and feminine forms of the adjective «big»), gadal «he grew», higdil «he magnified» and magdelet «magnifier», along with many other words such as godel «size» and migdal «tower».

Roots and reconstructed roots can become the tools of etymology.^[4]

Secondary roots[edit]

Secondary roots are roots with changes in them, producing a new word with a slightly different meaning. In English, a rough equivalent would be to see conductor as a secondary root formed from the root to conduct. In abjad languages, the most familiar of which are Arabic and Hebrew, in which families of secondary roots are fundamental to the language, secondary roots are created by changes in the roots’ vowels, by adding or removing the long vowels a, i, u, e and o. (Notice that Arabic does not have the vowels e and o.) In addition, secondary roots can be created by prefixing (m−, t−), infixing (−t−), or suffixing (−i, and several others). There is no rule in these languages on how many secondary roots can be derived from a single root; some roots have few, but other roots have many, not all of which are necessarily in current use.

Consider the Arabic language:

• مركز [mrkz] or [markaza] meaning ‘centralized (masculine, singular)’, from [markaz] ‘centre’, from [rakaza] ‘plant into the earth, stick up (a lance)’ ( ر-ك-ز | r-k-z). This in turn has derived words مركزي [markaziy], meaning ‘central’, مركزية [markaziy:ah], meaning ‘centralism’ or ‘centralization’, and لامركزية, [la:markaziy:ah] ‘decentralization’^[5]
• أرجح [rjh] or [ta’arjaħa] meaning ‘oscillated (masculine, singular)’, from [‘urju:ħa] ‘swing (n)’, from [rajaħa] ‘weighed down, preponderated (masculine, singular)’ ( ر-ج-ح | r-j-ħ).
• محور [mhwr] or [tamaħwara] meaning ‘centred, focused (masculine, singular)’, from [mihwar] meaning ‘axis’, from [ħa:ra] ‘turned (masculine, singular)’ (ح-و-ر | h-w-r).
• مسخر [msxr], تمسخر [tamasxara] meaning ‘mocked, made fun (masculine, singular)’, from مسخرة [masxara] meaning ‘mockery’, from سخر [saxira] ‘mocked (masculine, singular)’ (derived from س-خ-ر[s-x-r]).»^[6] Similar cases may be found in other Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic, Maltese language and to a lesser extent Amharic.

Similar cases occur in Hebrew, for example Israeli Hebrew מ-ק-מ‎ √m-q-m ‘locate’, which derives from Biblical Hebrew מקום‎ måqom ‘place’, whose root is ק-ו-מ‎ √q-w-m ‘stand’. A recent example introduced by the Academy of the Hebrew Language is מדרוג‎ midrúg ‘rating’, from מדרג‎ midrág, whose root is ד-ר-ג‎ √d-r-g ‘grade’.»^[6]

According to Ghil’ad Zuckermann, «this process is morphologically similar to the production of frequentative (iterative) verbs in Latin, for example:

• iactito ‘to toss about’ derives from iacto ‘to boast of, keep bringing up, harass, disturb, throw, cast, fling away’, which in turn derives from iacio ‘to throw, cast’ (from its past participle iactum).^[6]

Consider also Rabbinic Hebrew ת-ר-מ‎ √t-r-m ‘donate, contribute’ (Mishnah: T’rumoth 1:2: ‘separate priestly dues’), which derives from Biblical Hebrew תרומה‎ t’rūmå ‘contribution’, whose root is ר-ו-מ‎ √r-w-m ‘raise’; cf. Rabbinic Hebrew ת-ר-ע‎ √t-r-‘ ‘sound the trumpet, blow the horn’, from Biblical Hebrew תרועה‎ t’rū`å ‘shout, cry, loud sound, trumpet-call’, in turn from ר-ו-ע‎ √r-w-`.»^[6]
and it describes the suffix.

Category-neutral roots[edit]

Decompositional generative frameworks suggest that roots hold little grammatical information and can be considered «category-neutral».^[7] Category-neutral roots are roots without any inherent lexical category but with some conceptual content that becomes evident depending on the syntactic environment.^[7] The ways in which these roots gain lexical category are discussed in Distributed Morphology and the Exoskeletal Model.

Theories adopting a category-neutral approach have not, as of 2020, reached a consensus about whether these roots contain a semantic type but no argument structure,^[8] neither semantic type nor argument structure,^[9] or both semantic type and argument structure.^[10]

In support of the category-neutral approach, data from English indicates that the same underlying root appears as a noun and a verb — with or without overt morphology.^[7]

In Hebrew, the majority of roots consist of segmental consonants √CCC. Arad (2003) describes that the consonantal root is turned into a word due to pattern morphology. Thereby, the root is turned into a verb when put into a verbal environment where the head bears the «v» feature (the pattern).^[11]

Consider the root √š-m-n (ש-מ-נ).

Root √š-m-n (ש-מ-נ) in Hebrew^[11]

Pattern	Pronounced word	Gloss
CeCeC (n)	šemen	oil, grease
CaCCeCet (n)	šamenet	cream
CuCaC (n)	šuman	fat
CaCeC (adj)	šamen	fat
hiCCiC (v)	hišmin	grow fat/fatten
CiCCeC (n)	šimen	grease

Although all words vary semantically, the general meaning of a greasy, fatty material can be attributed to the root.

Furthermore, Arad states that there are two types of languages in terms of root interpretation. In languages like English, the root is assigned one interpretation whereas in languages like Hebrew, the root can form multiple interpretations depending on its environment. This occurrence suggests a difference in language acquisition between these two languages. English speakers would need to learn two roots in order to understand two different words whereas Hebrew speakers would learn one root for two or more words.^[11]

Root comparison between English and Hebrew (adapted from Syntactic Categorization of Roots^[7])

English Root	English Word	Hebrew Root	Hebrew Word	Gloss
√CREAM	cream	√š-m-n ש-מ-נ	šamenet	‘cream’
√FAT	fat	√š-m-n ש-מ-נ	šuman	‘fat’

Alexiadou and Lohndal (2017) advance the claim that languages have a typological scale when it comes to roots and their meanings and state that Greek lies in between Hebrew and English.^[12]

See also[edit]

• Lemma (morphology)
• Lexeme
• Morphological typology
• Morphology (linguistics)
• Phono-semantic matching
• Principal parts
• Proto-Indo-European root
• Radical (Chinese character) (this is more based upon a writing system than a spoken language)
• Semitic root
• Word family
• Word stem

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Virtual Salt Root words and prefixes
• Espindle — Greek and Latin Root Words

We use words constantly to express ourselves and exchange thoughts with others. We write, speak, hear, read, and listen to words. Some research suggests the average person can speak from 4,000 to 7,000 words in a day.

All words have origins that might date from days to millennia since their inception. The English language is about 1,400 years old; one of the earliest-known English dictionaries, The Elementarie (1582), contained 8,000 words. Today’s English dictionaries can include up to hundreds of thousands of them.

Words can be complex or simple. Different word parts also can combine to form new words with new meanings. The root of a word—also referred to by some as a base word—is its primary morpheme, which is the smallest grammatical unit that cannot be divided further into parts. Every word in American English has at least one morpheme.

The grammatical unit can be a free morpheme, which is a word that can stand alone, or a bound morpheme, which is an affix (a prefix or a suffix) that cannot stand alone but can form a word by combining with other morphemes.

More than half of English words have roots in Latin and Greek. Many words also have German, French, and Spanish origins, which often have their own Latin roots as well.

When standing alone, the foreign root words themselves might not always make sense to English writers and speakers, but we can quickly recognize their contributions to our lexicon when they are combined with other word parts.

Root	Meaning	Origin	Word
carn	flesh or meat	Latin	carnal, carnivore
deca	ten (10)	Latin	decade, decameter
tele	distant	Greek	telephone, telegram
mal	bad, evil	Latin	malice, malpractice
psycho	soul, spirit	Greek	psychic, psychology

In our contemporary English vocabulary, we can readily infer the different parts of words, including their roots and prefixes or suffixes.

Word	Root	Prefix	Suffix
unkindness	kind	un-	-ness
action	act		-ion
misplayed	play	mis-	-ed
fearless	fear		-less

Word Roots in Different Parts of Speech

You may have noticed that roots appear in parts of speech other than nouns. They also apply to verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, as in the following recognizable English words.

Word	Part of Speech	Root	Prefix	Suffix
description	noun	script	de-	-ion
disappear	verb	appear	dis-
nicest	adjective	nice		-est
aimlessly	adverb	aim		-less, -ly

Those familiar with English know that in the preceding words, the root has an understood meaning, and the prefixes and suffixes offer much less meaning to us without the root. When combined, however, they form a word that can express.

Let’s look at a few more words with Greek and Latin roots:

Word	Part of Speech	Root	Origin
bibliophile	noun	biblio (book), phil (love)	Greek
(to) chronicle	verb	chrono (time)	Greek
benevolent	adjective	bene (good)	Latin
ambiguously	adverb	ambi (both)	Latin

Word Roots for Expanding Vocabulary

Being familiar with word roots and how words originate becomes a versatile tool in building vocabulary and interpreting unfamiliar words.

For example, many versed in English recognize that the Greek root “phobia” stands for “fear.” Sometimes that root is attached to prefixes we readily know, such as with claustrophobia (fear of small, confined spaces) and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).

We also might encounter words such as demophobia (fear of crowds) and anthrophobia (fear of flowers). We might not instantly recognize the fear the prefix identifies, but because we understand the word root, we’re halfway to comprehension.

Understanding roots also helps to better deconstruct words. For example, uncharacteristically is a 20-letter adverb common to English vernacular that means “not consistent with established or expected qualities or attributes” (e.g., James is uncharacteristically late).

This word contains four parts (morphemes): character (root, free morpheme), un- (prefix, bound morpheme), -istic (suffix, bound morpheme), and -ally (suffix, bound morpheme). Breaking the full word down this way can simplify the spelling of it as well as our initial insight into its meaning, even if we understand only a couple of parts as opposed to all of them.

(Character stems from the Greek charassein: “to sharpen, cut in furrows, or engrave.” This word also gave the Greeks charaktēr: “a mark; a distinctive quality,” a meaning the Latin character shared. English adopted character in the 14th century to express “a distinctive differentiating mark” as one of the word’s earliest English meanings.)

Word Roots and Affixes for Word-Count Reduction

Understanding word roots and their conjoining parts further can support written precision by allowing us to reduce word count.

Examples

against the establishment > anti-establishment (three words to one word with three morphemes: anti-, establish, -ment)

to act against > counteract (three words to one word with two morphemes: counter-, act)

Shelly is the one who can run with more speed than any other runner on the team >
Shelly is the fastest runner on the team (Seventeen words to eight words, achieved mainly by inclusion of fastest, which is one word with two morphemes: fast, -est.)

Related Topic

How Does a Word Become a Word?

Pop Quiz

Applying what we’ve discussed about word roots, identify the root in each following word. Some can be recognizable English words, and others can be from original roots such as Latin or Greek.

1. international

2. nonexistent

3. contradict

4. enlightenment

5. destruction

Pop Quiz Answers

1. international

2. nonexistent

3. contradict

4. enlightenment

5. destruction

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If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the «Comment» box at the bottom of this page.

A root word is a word or word part that can form the basis of new words through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. For example, “egotist” has a root word of “ego” plus the suffix “-ist.” “Acting” has the root word “act”; “-ing” is merely the suffix.

What is a word root a word part added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning a word part added to the end of a word to change its meaning the word part that provides the basic meaning of a word?

A word root is the base part of a word (i.e., less any prefixes and suffixes). To change the meaning of a word, a prefix can be added to the front of the word root, or a suffix can be added to the back. (Prefixes and suffixes are known as affixes.) …

What is the word part added to the end of a word called?

suffix

What is a root word and suffix?

A root word is a basic word with no prefix or suffix added to it (a prefix is a string of letters that go at the start of a word; a suffix is a string of letters that go at the end of a word). By adding prefixes and suffixes to a root word we can change its meaning.

What is the root word for disease?

disease (n.) early 14c., “discomfort, inconvenience, distress, trouble,” from Old French desaise “lack, want; discomfort, distress; trouble, misfortune; disease, sickness,” from des- “without, away” (see dis-) + aise “ease” (see ease (n.)).

What is the root word of transport?

The Latin root word port in the word transportation.

What is Disease explain?

A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not due to any immediate external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that are associated with specific signs and symptoms.

What is disorder mean?

Disorder – An illness that disrupts normal physical or mental functions. Oxford English Dictionary. A disorder could be defined as a set of problems, which result in causing significant difficulty, distress, impairment and/or suffering in a person’s daily life.

Can disorders be cured?

Mental illness is the same way. There’s no cure for mental illness, but there are lots of effective treatments. People with mental illnesses can recover and live long and healthy lives.

What does upheaval mean?

1 : the action or an instance of upheaving especially of part of the earth’s crust. 2 : extreme agitation or disorder : radical change also : an instance of this.

What is the difference between a disorder and disease?

Disease: A particular distinctive process in the body with a specific cause and characteristic symptoms. Disorder: Irregularity, disturbance, or interruption of normal functions.

Is a syndrome a disability?

Disability applicants with a diagnosis of non-mosaic Down syndrome can automatically qualify as disabled under the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) official disability listing for Down syndrome if they can prove they have a diagnosis of non-mosaic down syndrome (either trisomy or translocation).

Is a disorder a disability?

From a parent’s perspective, the term “disorder” is most relevant with your doctor and the healthcare system. While the word “disorder” is a medical term, the word “disability” is a legal term that appears in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

What is the difference between mental illness and disorder?

Mental illness is a group of illnesses that are often diagnosed through standard criteria. The term ‘mental disorder’ refers to the same health problems.

Who def of mental health?

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

Who is the father of mental hygiene?

Clifford Beers, a graduate of Yale University can be regarded as the father of mental hygiene.

What is classified as a serious mental illness?

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is defined as someone over the age of 18 who has (or had within the past year) a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that causes serious functional impairment that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

Is OCD a mental illness?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental illness. It’s made up of two parts: obsessions and compulsions. People may experience obsessions, compulsions, or both, and they cause a lot of distress. Obsessions are unwanted and repetitive thoughts, urges, or images that don’t go away.

What triggers OCD?

Causes of OCD Compulsions are learned behaviours, which become repetitive and habitual when they are associated with relief from anxiety. OCD is due to genetic and hereditary factors. Chemical, structural and functional abnormalities in the brain are the cause.

Is OCD a form of autism?

One of the most common categories of disorders to appear along with OCD is Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). ASD describes a category of pervasive developmental disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) that include Autistic Disorder and Asperger’s Disorder.

Does OCD get worse with age?

Because symptoms usually worsen with age, people may have difficulty remembering when OCD began, but can sometimes recall when they first noticed that the symptoms were disrupting their lives. As you may already know, the symptoms of OCD include the following: Unwanted or upsetting doubts.

Asked by: Prof. Jailyn Stehr

Score: 4.4/5
(45 votes)

A root is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements. In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach.

What’s a root word example?

What Is a Root Word? A root word is a word or word part that forms the basis of new words through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. … For example, “egotist” has a root word of “ego” plus the suffix -ist. “Acting” has the root word “act” and -ing is merely the suffix.

What is the root of a word?

A word root is the base part of a word (i.e., less any prefixes and suffixes). To change the meaning of a word, a prefix can be added to the front of the word root, or a suffix can be added to the back.

How do you find the root of a word?

A root can be any part of a word that carries meaning: the beginning, middle or end. Prefixes, bases, and suffixes are types of roots. The prefix appears at the beginning of a word, the base in the middle and the suffix at the end. Most English root words came from the Greek and Latin languages.

How do you explain the root word to a child?

A root word is a word with no prefix or suffix added to it. An example of a root word is ‘behave’, which is a verb. By adding a prefix or suffix to a root word, we can change its form (for example, from verb to noun) and what it means.

41 related questions found

Morphemica is one of the most difficult topics for a child. Correctly divide the word into parts can not every schoolboy. Nevertheless, the ability to correctly identify parts of the word is a necessary condition for the assimilation of a number of rules of Russian spelling.

Russian language: what is the root of the word

Morpheme is a significant part of the word. First, with the morphemic analysis, the foundation and the ending are distinguished. The basis is the immutable part of the word, and the ending is the variable and pointing to the form of the word. For example, in the word «cows» cows — this is the basis, and you — this is the ending. The basis of the word includes the following parts of the word (morpheme) — prefix, root, ending. An important morpheme, denoted by an arc, is the root of the word.

What is the root of the word? The root of the word is a common part of the related words. What words are called crocheted? The root of one root is one root, while the other morphemes are different. For example, high — height, leaf — foliage, daddy — daddy, sister — sister.

How to find root words

1. There are words with the same roots, but notwhich are crooked. So, in the adjectives «peaceful» and «world» one can single out the root-world, but words will not be single-root, since in the first case the adjective is formed from the word «peace» in the meaning «without war», and in the second — in the meaning » what is around, the universe. » Lexical differences of words can not make words self-root.
2. You should not mix root words and forms of one word. For example, the words «carrots» and «carrots» are single-root words, and «carrots» and «carrots» are word forms of the word «carrot».
3. Raw words do not necessarily belong toone part of speech. So, if «carrots» and «carrots» are nouns, then «run» and «run» are a noun and a verb, and «fun» and «hilarious» are an adverb and an adjective.
4. Do not forget that apart from the root, there is a word in the wordprefixes and suffixes. If you can select them, then finding the root words will be much easier. For example, the word «chin». In it, you can select the prefix of sub-, suffix -ok and root -brod-. So, now you can pick up the root words: bearded, beard, beardless.
5. Difficulties can arise because of historicalalternating consonants. Outwardly, the roots are different, but the meaning is preserved. The fact is that earlier the sound of Russian speech was different from what one can hear today. Due to historical changes in the sound structure of the language, the same root in different words may sound different.

Some examples:

• to-h «: hands / a — hand» / k / a
• k-u-h «: n» uh / — n «u / o — n» u «/ n / w
• Ms.: legs / a — knife / c / a
• Mrs.-z: friend / — friends / and / «- friends» / ya
• x-w: yx / o-yw / u

Although the final consonants in the roots differ, the presented pairs of words are single-root.

What is a root orthogram?

Why do we need to highlight the root of the word and look forroot words? The fact is that one of the basic principles of Russian orthography (spelling) is a morphemic principle. It is manifested, for example, in the rule «The Uncorrected Vowel at the Root of the Word» or in the rule «Unpronounceable Consonant in the Root of the Word».

In the first case, it is necessary to find such a single root word, so that the verified vowel is under stress. For example, in_water — water, с_стра — sister, д_ловой — business.

In the second case, it is necessary to find a word such that an unpronounceable consonant is well audible. For example, it’s an honor, a crunch, a crunch.

Not only in these cases is it worth remembering what the root of the word is. Another important rule is based on the ability to allocate a root.

Alternating vowels in the root

Because of the same historical reasons in someroot words are written different vowels. For example, in the roots with alternating vowels e-u (-ber- -bir-, -per-pir-, -mer- — world-, -style -style, -der -dir, etc.), the letter «u «is written only when the root suffix -a- follows, for example: die — die, spread — spread, tear — razdert, shine — shine.

The alternating roots are also:

lag-lodges, kas-kos, floating-pilov, clan-clone, creature creature, mac-mok, har-mountains, zarzor, skach-scoch, equal-level, rastro-rasch.

Read more about this here.