What is the definition of word root

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• enPR: ro͞ot, IPA^(key): /ɹuːt/
• (Midwestern US) IPA^(key): /ɹʊt/

• Audio (Midwestern US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt, -ʊt
• Homophones: route (some pronunciations), rute

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English rote, root, roote (“the underground part of a plant”), from late Old English rōt, from Old Norse rót (Icelandic rót), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”); cognate with wort, radish, and radix.

Noun[edit]

root (countable and uncountable, plural roots)

2. The part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors and supports the plant body, absorbs and stores water and nutrients, and in some plants is able to perform vegetative reproduction.

   Hyponym: taproot

   This tree’s roots can go as deep as twenty metres underground.
3. A root vegetable.

   • […] two fields which should have been sown with roots in the early summer were not sown because the ploughing had not been completed early enough.

4. The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.

   Root damage is a common problem of overbrushing.

5. The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place.

   The root is the only part of the hair that is alive.

6. The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.

   He dyed his hair black last month, so the grey roots can be seen.

7. (figurative) The primary source; origin.

   Synonyms: basis, origin, source

   The love of money is the root of all evil.

   • , Book 1

     They were the roots out of which sprang two distinct people.

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 160:

     Phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion, and was definitely the opponent of evil and darkness.

8. (aviation) The section of a wing immediately adjacent to the fuselage.
9. (engineering) The bottom of the thread of a threaded object.

   Antonym: crest

   The root diameter is the minor diameter of an external thread and the major diameter of an internal one.

10. (arithmetic) Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.

    Hyponyms: cube root, functional root, square root

    The cube root of 27 is 3.

11. (arithmetic) A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, «the root of» is often abbreviated to «root»).

    Multiply by root 2.

    • 1899, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (transl.), The New Life (La Vita Nuova) of Dante Alighieri, Siddall edition, page 122.

      The number three is the root of the number nine; […] being multiplied merely by itself, it produceth nine, as we manifestly perceive that three times three are nine.

12. (mathematical analysis) A zero (of an equation).

    Synonym: zero

    Antonym: pole

    Holonym: kernel

13. (graph theory, computing) The single node of a tree that has no parent.
14. (linguistic morphology) The primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Inflectional stems often derive from roots.

    Coordinate term: stem

    • 1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] ‎^[2], London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:

      In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation / I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes […]

    • 2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎^[3], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 12:

      A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.

15. (linguistics) A word from which another word or words are derived.

    Synonym: etymon

16. (music) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed^[1].
17. The lowest place, position, or part.
    • 1812, Robert Southey, Omniana

      the roots of the mountains

18. (computing) In UNIX terminology, the first user account with complete access to the operating system and its configuration, found at the root of the directory structure; the person who manages accounts on a UNIX system.

    Synonyms: superuser, root account, root user

    I have to log in as root before I do that.

19. (computing) The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories.

    I installed the files in the root directory.

20. (slang) A penis, especially the base of a penis.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Verb[edit]

root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)

1. To grow roots; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.

   The cuttings are starting to root.

   • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, →OCLC:

     In deep grounds the weeds root the deeper.

   • 2014 October 26, Jeff Howell, “Is the Japanese knotweed threat exaggerated? Our troubleshooter calls for calm about Japanese knotweed in the garden – and moss on the roof [print version: Don’t panic about an overhyped invasion, 25 October 2014, p. P13]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property)‎^[4]:

     Some old, underfired clay pantiles might be damaged by button mosses rooting in cracks and fissures. But most post-war tiles are hard enough to withstand a bit of moss growth.

2. To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings.

   We rooted some cuttings last summer.

3. To be firmly fixed; to be established.
   • 1823, Gilbert Burnet, The Life of Sir Matthew Hale, Knt., Sometime Lord Chief Justice of His Majesty’s Court of King’s-Bench

     If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misapprehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment.

   • 2020 October 15, Frank Pasquale, “‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI”, in The Guardian‎^[5]:

     Massacres that take place during war often seem to be rooted in irrational emotion.

5. (computing slang, transitive) To get root or privileged access on a computer system or mobile phone, often through bypassing some security mechanism.

   Synonym: (mobile phone) jailbreak

   We rooted his box and planted a virus on it.

   I want to root my Android phone so I can remove the preinstalled crapware.

Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English wrōten (“to dig with the snout”), from Old English wrōtan, from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig out, to root”). Related to Old English wrōt (“snout; trunk”). Loss of initial w- probably due to influence from the related noun (Etymology 1).

Verb[edit]

root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)

2. (transitive, intransitive) To turn up or dig with the snout.

   A pig roots the earth for truffles.

   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:

     Such tunges ſhuld be torne out by the harde rootes,
     Hoyning like hogges that groynis and wrotes.

3. (by extension) To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.

   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!

4. (intransitive) To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.

   Synonyms: dig out, root out, rummage

   rooting about in a junk-filled drawer

5. (intransitive) Of a baby: to turn the head and open the mouth in search of food.
   • 2016, Rachel Waddilove, The Baby Book: How to enjoy year one: revised and updated (page 179)

     When your baby is rooting, his head will turn to the side and he will open and close his mouth. If you put your finger in your baby’s hand, she has a grasping reflex that makes her curl her fingers around yours and hold on.

6. (transitive) To root out; to abolish.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     I will go root away the noisome weeds.
7. (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, vulgar, slang) To sexually penetrate.

   Synonyms: screw, bang, (US) drill, (British) shag; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Usage notes[edit]

• The Australian/New Zealand sexual sense is somewhat milder than fuck but still quite coarse, and certainly not for polite conversation. The sexual sense will often be understood, unless care is taken with the context to make the rummage sense clear, or root through or root around is used. The past participle rooted is equivalent to fucked in the figurative sense of broken or tired, but rooting has only the direct verbal sense; it is not an all-purpose intensive like fucking.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

root (plural roots)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.

   Synonyms: (UK, US) screw, (UK) shag; see also Thesaurus:copulation

   Fancy a root?

2. (Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) A sexual partner.

   Synonym: (US) screw

Usage notes[edit]

• The Australian/New Zealand sexual sense of root is somewhat milder than fuck but still quite coarse, certainly not for polite conversation. The normal usage is to have a root or similar.

Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Possibly an alteration of rout (“to make a loud noise”), influenced by hoot.

Verb[edit]

root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)

1. (intransitive, with «for» or «on», US) To cheer (on); to show support (for) and hope for the success of. (See root for.) [late 19th century]

   Synonyms: (Australia, New Zealand) barrack, cheer on

   • 1908, Jack Norworth, Take Me Out to the Ball Game

     Let me root, root, root for the home team,

   I’m rooting for you, don’t let me down!

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

• Toor, Toro, roto, roto-, toro, troo

Chinese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English root.

Verb[edit]

root

1. (computing slang) to root (an Android device) (to get root or privileged access)

   這部手機root後不保修。 [MSC, trad.]
   这部手机root后不保修。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè bù shǒujī root hòu bù bǎoxiū. [Pinyin]

   This mobile phone will not be guaranteed if it is rooted.

See also[edit]

• 越獄／越狱 (yuèyù, “to jailbreak”)

French[edit]

Noun[edit]

root m (plural roots)

1. (computing) root

German Low German[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• raud
• rauth
• rod, rood
• rot, roth

Etymology[edit]

From Old Saxon rōd, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós < *h₁rewdʰ-. Compare Dutch rood, German rot, West Frisian read, English red, Danish rød.

Adjective[edit]

root (comparative röder, superlative röödst)

1. red

Declension[edit]

Middle Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Dutch rōt, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from the root *h₁rewdʰ-.

Adjective[edit]

rôot

1. red

Inflection[edit]

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants[edit]

• Dutch: rood
  • Afrikaans: rooi
  • Jersey Dutch: rôi
  • Negerhollands: rooi, ro, roo, rood
  • Skepi Creole Dutch: aro
• Limburgish: roead

Further reading[edit]

• “root”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “root (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

root

1. Alternative form of rote (“root”)

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

root

1. Alternative form of rote (“habit”)

Etymology 3[edit]

Noun[edit]

root

1. Alternative form of rot

Plautdietsch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Low German rōt, from Old Saxon rōd.

Adjective[edit]

root

1. red

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English root.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

root m (plural roots)

1. (computing) root (user with complete access to the operating system)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Britannica Dictionary definition of ROOT

Britannica Dictionary definition of ROOT

Britannica Dictionary definition of ROOT

[no object]

Britannica Dictionary definition of ROOT

root

part of a plant normally below the ground; basic cause, source, or origin: the root of the problem

Not to be confused with:

route – a way or course taken: the shortest route to your destination; a round traveled in delivering, selling, or collecting goods: a newspaper route

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

root ¹

 (ro͞ot, ro͝ot)

n.

1.

a. The usually underground portion of a plant that lacks buds, leaves, or nodes and serves as support, draws minerals and water from the surrounding soil, and sometimes stores food.

b. Any of various other underground plant parts, especially an underground stem such as a rhizome, corm, or tuber.

2.

a. The embedded part of an organ or structure such as a hair, tooth, or nerve, that serves as a base or support.

b. The bottom or supporting part of something: We snipped the wires at the roots.

3. The essential part or element; the basic core: I finally got to the root of the problem.

4. A primary source; an origin. See Synonyms at origin.

5. A progenitor or ancestor from which a person or family is descended.

6.

a. often roots The condition of being settled and of belonging to a particular place or society: Our roots in this town go back a long way.

b. roots The state of having or establishing an indigenous relationship with or a personal affinity for a particular culture, society, or environment: music with unmistakable African roots.

7. Linguistics

a. The element that carries the main component of meaning in a word and provides the basis from which a word is derived by adding affixes or inflectional endings or by phonetic change.

b. Such an element reconstructed for a protolanguage. Also called radical.

8. Mathematics

a. A number that when multiplied by itself an indicated number of times forms a product equal to a specified number. For example, a fourth root of 4 is √2. Also called nth root.

b. A number that reduces a polynomial equation in one variable to an identity when it is substituted for the variable.

c. A number at which a polynomial has the value zero.

9. Music

a. The note from which a chord is built.

b. Such a note occurring as the lowest note of a triad or other chord.

v. root·ed, root·ing, roots

v.intr.

1. To grow roots or a root: Carrot tops will root in water.

2. To become firmly established or settled: The idea of tolerance has rooted in our culture.

v.tr.

1. To plant and fix the roots of (a plant) in soil or the ground.

2. To establish or settle firmly: Our love of the ocean has rooted us here.

3. To be the source or origin of: «Much of [the team’s] success was rooted in the bullpen» (Dan Shaughnessy).

4.

a. To dig or pull out by the roots. Often used with up or out: We rooted out the tree stumps with a tractor.

b. To remove or get rid of. Often used with out: «declared that waste and fraud will be vigorously rooted out of Government» (New York Times).

Idiom:

root and branch

Utterly; completely: The organization has been transformed root and branch by its new leaders.

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root′er n.

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root ²

 (ro͞ot, ro͝ot)

v. root·ed, root·ing, roots

v.tr.

1. To turn up by digging with the snout or nose: hogs that rooted up acorns.

2. To cause to appear or be known. Used with out: an investigation that rooted out the source of the problem.

v.intr.

1. To turn over the earth with the snout or nose.

2. To search or rummage for something: rooted around for a pencil in his cluttered office.

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[Middle English wroten, from Old English wrōtan.]

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root′er n.

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root ³

 (ro͞ot, ro͝ot)

intr.v. root·ed, root·ing, roots

1. To give audible encouragement or applause to a contestant or team; cheer. See Synonyms at applaud.

2. To give moral support to someone; hope for a favorable outcome for someone: We’ll be rooting for you when you take the exam.

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[Possibly alteration of rout.]

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root′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

root

(ruːt)

n

1. (Botany)

a. the organ of a higher plant that anchors the rest of the plant in the ground, absorbs water and mineral salts from the soil, and does not bear leaves or buds

b. (loosely) any of the branches of such an organ

2. (Botany) any plant part, such as a rhizome or tuber, that is similar to a root in structure, function, or appearance

3.

a. the essential, fundamental, or primary part or nature of something: your analysis strikes at the root of the problem.

b. (as modifier): the root cause of the problem.

4. (Anatomy) anatomy the embedded portion of a tooth, nail, hair, etc

5. origin or derivation, esp as a source of growth, vitality, or existence

6. (plural) a person’s sense of belonging in a community, place, etc, esp the one in which he was born or brought up

7. an ancestor or antecedent

8. (Bible) Bible a descendant

9. (Linguistics) the form of a word that remains after removal of all affixes; a morpheme with lexical meaning that is not further subdivisible into other morphemes with lexical meaning. Compare stem¹⁹

10. (Mathematics) maths a number or quantity that when multiplied by itself a certain number of times equals a given number or quantity: 3 is a cube root of 27.

11. (Mathematics) maths Also called: solution a number that when substituted for the variable satisfies a given equation: 2 is a root of x³ – 2x – 4 = 0.

12. (Music, other) music (in harmony) the note forming the foundation of a chord

13. slang Austral and NZ sexual intercourse

14. root and branch

a. (adverb) entirely; completely; utterly

b. (adjective) thorough; radical; complete

vb

15. (Botany) (intr) Also: take root to put forth or establish a root and begin to grow

16. (intr) Also: take root to become established, embedded, or effective

17. (tr) to fix or embed with or as if with a root or roots

18. slang Austral and NZ to have sexual intercourse (with)

[Old English rōt, from Old Norse; related to Old English wyrt wort]

ˈrooter n

ˈrootˌlike adj

ˈrooty adj

ˈrootiness n

---

root

(ruːt)

vb (intr)

1. (Zoology) (of a pig) to burrow in or dig up the earth in search of food, using the snout

2. informal (foll by: about, around, in, etc) to search vigorously but unsystematically

[C16: changed (through influence of root¹) from earlier wroot, from Old English wrōtan; related to Old English wrōt snout, Middle Dutch wrōte mole]

ˈrooter n

---

root

vb

(General Sporting Terms) informal (usually foll by: for) to give support to (a contestant, team, etc), as by cheering

[C19: perhaps a variant of Scottish rout to make a loud noise, from Old Norse rauta to roar]

ˈrooter n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

root¹

(rut, rʊt)

n.

1. a part of the body of a plant that develops, typically, from the radicle and grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutriment and moisture.

2. any underground part of a plant, as a rhizome.

3. something resembling or suggesting the root of a plant in position or function.

4. the embedded or basal portion of a hair, tooth, nail, nerve, etc.

5. the fundamental or essential part.

6. the source or origin of a thing: the root of all evil.

7. a person or family as the source of offspring or descendants.

8. roots,

a. a person’s original or ancestral home, environment, and culture.

b. the personal relationships, affinity for a place, habits, etc., that make a locale one’s true home.

9.

a. a quantity that, when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, produces a given quantity: 2 is the square root of 4, the cube root of 8, and the fourth root of 16.

b. r th root, the quantity raised to the power 1/r: 2 is the ? root of 8.

c. a value of the argument of a function for which the function takes the value zero.

10.

a. a morpheme that underlies an inflectional or derivational paradigm, as dance, the root in danced, dancer or tend-, the root of Latin tendere “to stretch.”

b. such a form reconstructed for a parent language, as *sed-, the hypothetical proto-Indo-European root meaning “sit.”

11.

a. the fundamental tone of a compound musical tone of a series of harmonies.

b. the lowest tone of a chord when arranged as a series of thirds; fundamental.

12.

a. (in a screw or other threaded object) the narrow inner surface between threads.

b. (in a gear) the narrow inner surface between teeth.

v.i.

13. to become fixed or established.

v.t.

14. to fix by or as if by roots: We were rooted to the spot in amazement.

15. to implant or establish deeply.

16. to pull, tear, or dig up by the roots (often fol. by up or out).

17. to extirpate; remove completely (often fol. by up or out): to root out crime.

Idioms:

take root,

a. to send out roots; begin to grow.

b. to become established.

[before 1150; Middle English; late Old English rōt < Old Norse rōt, akin to Old English wyrt plant, wort²]

root²

(rut, rʊt)

v.i.

1. to turn up the soil with the snout, as swine.

2. to poke or search: to root around in a drawer for a cuff link.

v.t.

3. to turn over with the snout (often fol. by up).

4. to unearth (often fol. by up).

[1530–40; variant of wroot (now obsolete), Middle English wroten, Old English wrōtan, c. Old High German ruozzen; akin to Old English wrōt a snout]

root³

(rut or, sometimes, rʊt)

v.i.

1. to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically.

2. to lend moral support.

[1885–90, Amer.; perhaps variant of rout³]

root′er, n.

Root

(rut)

n.

Elihu, 1845–1937, U.S. statesman: Nobel peace prize 1912.

Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

root

(ro͞ot)

1. A plant part that usually grows underground, secures the plant in place, absorbs minerals and water, and stores food manufactured by leaves and other plant parts. In certain plants, additional roots grow out from the stem above ground, bending down into the soil, to provide more support.

2. Any of various other plant parts that grow underground, especially an underground stem such as a corm, rhizome, or tuber.

3. The part of a tooth that is embedded in the jaw and not covered by enamel.

4. Mathematics

a. A number that, when multiplied by itself a given number of times, produces a specified number. For example, since 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 16, 2 is a fourth root of 16.

b. A solution to an equation. For example, a root of the equation x² — 4 = 0 is 2, since 2² — 4 = 0.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

root

Past participle: rooted
Gerund: rooting

Imperative
root
root

Present
I root
you root
he/she/it roots
we root
you root
they root

Preterite
I rooted
you rooted
he/she/it rooted
we rooted
you rooted
they rooted

Present Continuous
I am rooting
you are rooting
he/she/it is rooting
we are rooting
you are rooting
they are rooting

Present Perfect
I have rooted
you have rooted
he/she/it has rooted
we have rooted
you have rooted
they have rooted

Past Continuous
I was rooting
you were rooting
he/she/it was rooting
we were rooting
you were rooting
they were rooting

Past Perfect
I had rooted
you had rooted
he/she/it had rooted
we had rooted
you had rooted
they had rooted

Future
I will root
you will root
he/she/it will root
we will root
you will root
they will root

Future Perfect
I will have rooted
you will have rooted
he/she/it will have rooted
we will have rooted
you will have rooted
they will have rooted

Future Continuous
I will be rooting
you will be rooting
he/she/it will be rooting
we will be rooting
you will be rooting
they will be rooting

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been rooting
you have been rooting
he/she/it has been rooting
we have been rooting
you have been rooting
they have been rooting

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been rooting
you will have been rooting
he/she/it will have been rooting
we will have been rooting
you will have been rooting
they will have been rooting

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been rooting
you had been rooting
he/she/it had been rooting
we had been rooting
you had been rooting
they had been rooting

Conditional
I would root
you would root
he/she/it would root
we would root
you would root
they would root

Past Conditional
I would have rooted
you would have rooted
he/she/it would have rooted
we would have rooted
you would have rooted
they would have rooted

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Translations

What do we mean by root?

The usually underground portion of a plant that lacks buds, leaves, or nodes and serves as support, draws minerals and water from the surrounding soil, and sometimes stores food. noun

Any of various other underground plant parts, especially an underground stem such as a rhizome, corm, or tuber. noun

The embedded part of an organ or structure such as a hair, tooth, or nerve, that serves as a base or support. noun

The bottom or supporting part of something. noun

The essential part or element; the basic core. noun

A primary source; an origin. synonym: origin. noun

A progenitor or ancestor from which a person or family is descended. noun

The condition of being settled and of belonging to a particular place or society. noun

The state of having or establishing an indigenous relationship with or a personal affinity for a particular culture, society, or environment. noun

The element that carries the main component of meaning in a word and provides the basis from which a word is derived by adding affixes or inflectional endings or by phonetic change. noun

Such an element reconstructed for a protolanguage. noun

A number that when multiplied by itself an indicated number of times forms a product equal to a specified number. For example, a fourth root of 4 is √2. noun

A number that reduces a polynomial equation in one variable to an identity when it is substituted for the variable. noun

A number at which a polynomial has the value zero. noun

The part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors and supports the plant body, absorbs and stores water and nutrients, and in some plants is able to perform vegetative reproduction.

A root vegetable.

The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.

The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place.

The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.

The primary source; origin.

Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.

A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, “the root of” is often abbreviated to “root”).

A zero (of an equation).

The single node of a tree that has no parent.

The primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Inflectional stems often derive from roots.

(philology) A word from which another word or words are derived.

The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.

The lowest place, position, or part.

In UNIX terminology, the first user account with complete access to the operating system and its configuration, found at the root of the directory structure; the person who manages accounts on a UNIX system.

The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories.

A penis, especially the base of a penis.

1. A Kiwi/Australian slang that is used in place of the more commonly used term «fuck.» Urban Dictionary

The administrator user in Unix (e.g. GNU/Linux) systems with the highest level of permissions. Urban Dictionary

1. An Australian substitute for the more crass equivalent, fuck.
2. An American substitute for the more correct, support or barrack.
3. Somewhat confusing for those moving between these countries
4. Found under trees, shrubs, bushes etc. Draws nutrients from the soil. Easily tripped over. Urban Dictionary

A term for a penis, nothing more. Urban Dictionary

Male sexual organ used to reproduce. Urban Dictionary

Another term for a stiffy. Urban Dictionary

This is a slang word for a penis. Urban Dictionary

A very large penis, usually refered to when erect. Urban Dictionary

Whoever posted the example below forgot to include the all-important comma: Urban Dictionary

What a plant uses to extract water and nutrients from the soil. Urban Dictionary

See Also: Roosevelt Roosevelt Corollary Roosevelt Dam Roosevelt Island Rooseveltian Roost roost rooster rooster tail roosterfish root root beer root canal root canal therapy root cellar root climber root crop root division root doctor root field root ginger Recent searches: View All

Go to Preferences page and choose from different actions for taps or mouse clicks. WordReference Random House Learner’s Dictionary of American English © 2023 root1 /rut, rʊt/USA pronunciation   n. [countable] Botanya part of the body of a plant that develops downward into the soil. something resembling the root of a plant in position or function. Anatomythe part of a hair, tooth, etc., holding it to the main part of the body. the fundamental part; the source or origin of a thing:the root of all evil. roots, [plural] the original home and culture of a person or of one’s ancestors:When he discovered he was adopted he began a search for his roots. the personal qualities that one finds appealing about a place; one’s true home:returned to his roots after years of travel. Mathematics a number that, when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, produces a given number:2 is the square root of 4. Grammar, Linguisticsa part of a word, or the word itself, present in other forms of that word:The word dancer has the root dance; the root of the word extend is Latin -tend-. v. to become fixed or established:[no object]Will these plants root well? to fix by or as if by roots:[~ + object]rooted to the spot in amazement. Agriculture to pull, tear, or dig up by the roots:[~ (+ out/up) + object]He rooted (out) the weeds from the garden. to remove completely: [~ + out + object]promised to root out crime from the city.[~ + object + out]to root crime out. Idioms Idioms take root, [no object] Botanyto send out roots; begin to grow:The new plant has taken root. to become established:Her ideas took root and grew. root•less, adj.  root2 /rut, rʊt/USA pronunciation   v.  Animal Behaviorto turn up the soil with the nose, as pigs do: [no object]The pigs rooted around looking for food.[~ + up + object]rooting up a few nuts and seeds.[~ + object + up]rooting a few potatoes up. to poke, pry, or search:[no object]He rooted around in the drawer for a cuff link. to find out and bring to the attention of others: [~ + up/out + object]managed to root up some very damaging information from the files.[~ + object + up/out]to root some information up for blackmail. root3 /rut/USA pronunciation   v. [~ + for + object] to support a team or player by cheering strongly:rooted for the basketball team. to lend support:We’re all rooting for you. root•er, n. [countable] WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2023 root1  (ro̅o̅t, rŏŏt),USA pronunciation n.  Botanya part of the body of a plant that develops, typically, from the radicle and grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutriment and moisture. Botanya similar organ developed from some other part of a plant, as one of those by which ivy clings to its support. Botanyany underground part of a plant, as a rhizome. something resembling or suggesting the root of a plant in position or function:roots of wires and cables. Anatomythe embedded or basal portion of a hair, tooth, nail, nerve, etc. the fundamental or essential part:the root of a matter. the source or origin of a thing:The love of money is the root of all evil. a person or family as the source of offspring or descendants. Botanyan offshoot or scion. Mathematics a quantity that, when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, produces a given quantity:The number 2 is the square root of 4, the cube root of 8, and the fourth root of 16. r th root, the quantity raised to the power 1/r:The number 2 is the 1⁄3 root of 8. a value of the argument of a function for which the function takes the value zero. Grammar, Linguistics a morpheme that underlies an inflectional or derivational paradigm, as dance, the root in danced, dancer, or ten-, the root of Latin tendere «to stretch.» such a form reconstructed for a parent language, as *sed-, the hypothetical proto-Indo-European root meaning «sit.» roots: a person’s original or true home, environment, and culture:He’s lived in New York for twenty years, but his roots are in France. the personal relationships, affinity for a locale, habits, and the like, that make a country, region, city, or town one’s true home:He lived in Tulsa for a few years, but never established any roots there. personal identification with a culture, religion, etc., seen as promoting the development of the character or the stability of society as a whole. Music and Dance the fundamental tone of a compound tone or of a series of harmonies. the lowest tone of a chord when arranged as a series of thirds; the fundamental. [Mach.] Mechanical Engineering(in a screw or other threaded object) the narrow inner surface between threads. Cf. crest (def. 18), flank (def. 7). Mechanical Engineering(in a gear) the narrow inner surface between teeth. British Terms[Australian Informal.]an act of sexual intercourse. Nautical, Naval Terms[Shipbuilding.]the inner angle of an angle iron. root and branch, utterly; entirely:to destroy something root and branch. take root: Botanyto send out roots; begin to grow. to become fixed or established:The prejudices of parents usually take root in their children. v.i. to become fixed or established. v.t. to fix by or as if by roots:We were rooted to the spot by surprise. to implant or establish deeply:Good manners were rooted in him like a second nature. Agricultureto pull, tear, or dig up by the roots (often fol. by up or out). to extirpate; exterminate; remove completely (often fol. by up or out):to root out crime. Old Norse rōt; akin to Old English wyrt plant, wort2, German Wurzel, Latin rādīx (see radix), Greek rhíza (see rhizome); (verb, verbal) Middle English roten, rooten, derivative of the noun, nominal bef. 1150; (noun, nominal) Middle English; late Old English rōt root′like′, adj.  6.See corresponding entry in Unabridged basis. 7.See corresponding entry in Unabridged beginning, derivation, rise, fountainhead. 8.See corresponding entry in Unabridged parent. 23.See corresponding entry in Unabridged eradicate. root2  (ro̅o̅t, rŏŏt),USA pronunciation v.i. Animal Behaviorto turn up the soil with the snout, as swine. to poke, pry, or search, as if to find something:to root around in a drawer for loose coins. v.t. Animal Behaviorto turn over with the snout (often fol. by up). to unearth; bring to light (often fol. by up). variant of obsolete wroot (Old English wrōtan, akin to wrōt a snout) 1530–40 root3 (ro̅o̅t or, sometimes, rŏŏt),USA pronunciation  v.i.  to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically. to lend moral support:The whole group will be rooting for him. perh. variant of rout4 1885–90, American. 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged cheer, applaud, boost, support. Root (ro̅o̅t),USA pronunciation  n.  El•i•hu  (el′ə hyo̅o̅′),USA pronunciation 1845–1937, U.S. lawyer and statesman: Nobel peace prize 1912. John Well•born  (wel′bərn),USA pronunciation 1851–91, U.S. architect. Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: root /ruːt/ n the organ of a higher plant that anchors the rest of the plant in the ground, absorbs water and mineral salts from the soil, and does not bear leaves or buds (loosely) any of the branches of such an organ any plant part, such as a rhizome or tuber, that is similar to a root in structure, function, or appearance the essential, fundamental, or primary part or nature of something: your analysis strikes at the root of the problem (as modifier): the root cause of the problem the embedded portion of a tooth, nail, hair, etc origin or derivation, esp as a source of growth, vitality, or existence (plural) a person’s sense of belonging in a community, place, etc, esp the one in which he was born or brought up a descendant the form of a word that remains after removal of all affixes; a morpheme with lexical meaning that is not further subdivisible into other morphemes with lexical meaning a number or quantity that when multiplied by itself a certain number of times equals a given number or quantity: 3 is a cube root of 27 Also called: solution a number that when substituted for the variable satisfies a given equation (in harmony) the note forming the foundation of a chord Austral NZ slang sexual intercourse root and branch ⇒ (adverb) entirely; completely; utterly (adjective) thorough; radical; complete Related adjective(s): radical vb Also: take root (intransitive) to put forth or establish a root and begin to grow Also: take root (intransitive) to become established, embedded, or effective (transitive) to fix or embed with or as if with a root or roots Austral NZ slang to have sexual intercourse (with) See also root out, rootsEtymology: Old English rōt, from Old Norse; related to Old English wyrt wort ˈrooter n ˈrootˌlike adj ˈrooty adj ˈrootiness n root /ruːt/ vb (intransitive) (of a pig) to burrow in or dig up the earth in search of food, using the snout followed by about, around, in etc: informal to search vigorously but unsystematically Etymology: 16th Century: changed (through influence of root1) from earlier wroot, from Old English wrōtan; related to Old English wrōt snout, Middle Dutch wrōte mole ˈrooter n root vb (intransitive) usually followed by for: informal to give support to (a contestant, team, etc), as by cheering Etymology: 19th Century: perhaps a variant of Scottish rout to make a loud noise, from Old Norse rauta to roar ‘root‘ also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

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