root
English
editPronunciation
edit- enPR: ro͞ot, IPA(key): /ɹuːt/
Audio (General American): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
- (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA(key): /ɹʉt/
- (Midwestern US) IPA(key): /ɹʊt/
Audio (Midwestern US): (file)
- Rhymes: -uːt, -ʊt
- Homophones: route (some pronunciations), rute
Etymology 1
editFrom 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”); Doublet of wort, radish, and radix.
Noun
editroot (countable and uncountable, plural roots)
- 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.
- 1981, Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune[1], →ISBN, →OCLC, page 6:
- A root caught Ulot's left foot and he almost fell.
- A root vegetable.
- 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
- [...] 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.
- The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.
- Root damage is a common problem of overbrushing.
- 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.
- 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.
- (figurative) The primary source; origin.
- 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:, 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.
- (aviation) The section of a wing immediately adjacent to the fuselage.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- (mathematical analysis) A zero (of an equation).
- (graph theory, computing) The single node of a tree that has no parent.
- (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.
- (linguistics) A word from which another word or words are derived.
- Synonym: etymon
- (music) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.[1]
- The lowest place, position, or part.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- deep to the roots of hell
- 1812, Robert Southey, Omniana:
- the roots of the mountains
- (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.
- (computing) The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories.
- Coordinate term: home directory
- I installed the files in the root directory.
- (slang) A penis, especially the base of a penis.
Derived terms
edit- abscess root
- advanced tongue root
- aerial root
- Armillaria root disease
- Armillaria root rot
- arrow-root
- arrowroot
- bare-root
- beet root
- bellyache root
- biscuit root
- Boott's rattlesnake root
- bowman's root
- bread-root
- briar-root
- buttress-root
- cabbage root fly
- cancer root
- celery root
- characteristic root
- chaya root
- chay root
- china-root
- China root
- china root
- choy root
- complex conjugate root theorem
- cotton root rot
- Culver's root
- daisy roots
- deep-rooted
- dick root
- digital root
- dorsal root
- dorsal root ganglion
- eddy root
- ginger root
- grass roots
- grass-roots
- High John root
- jaundice root
- John the Conqueror root
- licorice root
- liquorice root
- memory root
- money is the root of all evil
- mortification root
- multiple root
- mushroom root rot
- paintroot
- papoose root
- pleurisy root
- primitive root
- principal root
- principal square root
- put down roots
- rational root theorem
- rattlesnake root
- retracted tongue root
- rheumatism root
- root-and-branch
- root and branch
- root-and-brancher
- root around
- root bark
- root beer
- root beer float
- root-bound
- root canal
- root cap
- root-cause
- root cause
- root cellar
- root cellaring
- root disease
- root doctor
- root-fallen
- root field
- root fly
- root gap
- root hair
- root kit
- rootkit
- rootless
- root mean square
- root mean square velocity
- root morpheme
- root nodule
- root-noun
- root noun
- root of all evil
- root of scarcity
- root of unity
- root parsley
- root plant
- root position
- root pressure
- root-rocker
- root rot
- roots
- roots music
- roots-reggae
- roots reggae
- roots-rock
- roots rock
- rootsy
- root system
- root tea
- root vole
- root word
- Seneca root
- sensory root
- shaya root
- shoestring root rot
- simple root
- square root decomposition
- square root of fuck all
- squaw root
- starch-root
- strawberry root weevil
- strictly roots
- take root
- taproot
- Texas root rot
- the love of money is the root of all evil
- tulip root
- unicorn root
- uproot
- violet root rot
- white rattlesnake root
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
editOther terms used in arithmetic operations:
- successor
- addition, summation:
- subtraction:
- (minuend) − (subtrahend) = (difference)
- multiplication, factorization:
- (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (product)
- (factor) × (factor) × (factor)... = (product)
- division:
- exponentiation:
- root extraction:
- logarithmization:
- log(base) (antilogarithm) = (logarithm)
Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation
Verb
editroot (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)
- 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. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →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.
- To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings.
- We rooted some cuttings last summer.
- To fix firmly; to establish.
- 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.
- 1981 April 18, Michael Bronski, “Good Production — Bad Play”, in Gay Community News, page 10:
- Small theater companies come and go very quickly — many times after one show — but community response to Triangle has been strong, and there is a good chance that they will make it through those early growing stages and firmly root.
- 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.
- (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
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Etymology 2
editFrom 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
editroot (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)
- (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.
- Such tunges ſhuld be torne out by the harde rootes,
- (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!
- (intransitive) To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.
- (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.
- (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.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 29:28:
- The Lord rooted them out of their land [...] and cast them into another land.
- (equestrianism, of a horse) To tug or pull at the reins aggressively by driving the head downwards while wearing a bit.
- (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
editTranslations
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Noun
editroot (plural roots)
- (Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
- Synonyms: (UK, US) screw, (UK) shag; see also Thesaurus:copulation
- Fancy a root?
- (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
editEtymology 3
editPossibly an alteration of rout (“to make a loud noise”), influenced by hoot.
Verb
editroot (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)
- (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]
- 1908, Jack Norworth, Take Me Out to the Ball Game:
- Let me root, root, root for the home team,
Translations
editReferences
edit- ^ 1817, Thomas Busby, A Dictionary of Music, Theoretical and Practical
Anagrams
editChinese
editEtymology
editVerb
editroot
See also
editFrench
editPronunciation
editAudio: (file)
Noun
editroot m (plural roots)
German Low German
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom 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
editroot (comparative röder, superlative röödst)
Declension
editgender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | he is root | se is root | dat is root | se sünd root | |
partitive | een Roods | een Roods | wat Roods | allens Rood | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | rode | rode | root | rode |
oblique | roden | rode | root | rode | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | de rode | de rode | dat rode | de roden |
oblique | den roden | de rode | dat rode | de roden | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | en rode/roden | en rode | en root/rodet | (keen) roden |
oblique | en roden | en rode | en root/rodet | (keen) roden |
gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | he is röder | se is röder | dat is röder | se sünd röder | |
partitive | een röders | een röders | wat röders | allens röder | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | rödere | rödere | röder | rödere |
oblique | rödern | rödere | röder | rödere | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | de rödere | de rödere | dat rödere | de rödern |
oblique | den rödern | de rödere | dat rödere | de rödern | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | en rödere/röderen | en rödere | en röder | (keen) rödern |
oblique | en rödern | en rödere | en röder | (keen) rödern |
gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | he is de Röödste | se is de Röödste | dat is dat Röödste | se sünd de Röödsten | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | röödste | röödste | röödst | röödste |
oblique | röödsten | röödste | röödst | röödste | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | de röödste | de röödste | dat röödste | de röödsten |
oblique | den röödsten | de röödste | dat röödste | de röödsten | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | en röödste/röödsten | en röödste | en röödst | (keen) röödsten |
oblique | en röödsten | en röödste | en röödst | (keen) röödsten |
Middle Dutch
editEtymology
editFrom Old Dutch rōt, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from the root *h₁rewdʰ-.
Adjective
editrôot
Inflection
editAdjective | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | ||
Nominative | Indefinite | rôot | rôde | rôot | rôde |
Definite | rôde | rôde | |||
Accusative | Indefinite | rôden | rôde | rôot | rôde |
Definite | rôde | ||||
Genitive | Indefinite | rôots | rôder | rôots | rôder |
Definite | rôots, rôden | rôots, rôden | |||
Dative | rôden | rôder | rôden | rôden |
Descendants
editFurther 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
editEtymology 1
editNoun
editroot
- Alternative form of rote (“root”)
Etymology 2
editNoun
editroot
- Alternative form of rote (“habit”)
Etymology 3
editNoun
editroot
- Alternative form of rot
Plautdietsch
editEtymology
editFrom Middle Low German rōt, from Old Saxon rōd.
Adjective
editroot
Portuguese
editEtymology
editUnadapted borrowing from English root.
Pronunciation
edit
Noun
editroot m (plural roots)
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/uːt
- Rhymes:English/uːt/1 syllable
- Rhymes:English/ʊt
- Rhymes:English/ʊt/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Aviation
- en:Engineering
- en:Arithmetic
- en:Mathematical analysis
- en:Graph theory
- en:Computing
- en:Linguistic morphology
- en:Linguistics
- en:Music
- English slang
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Equestrianism
- Australian English
- New Zealand English
- Irish English
- English vulgarities
- American English
- en:Hair
- en:Plant anatomy
- Chinese terms borrowed from English
- Chinese terms derived from English
- Chinese lemmas
- Chinese verbs
- zh:Computing
- Chinese slang
- Mandarin terms with usage examples
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Computing
- German Low German terms inherited from Old Saxon
- German Low German terms derived from Old Saxon
- German Low German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- German Low German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German Low German terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- German Low German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- German Low German lemmas
- German Low German adjectives
- nds-de:Colors
- Middle Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch
- Middle Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle Dutch lemmas
- Middle Dutch adjectives
- dum:Colors
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Plautdietsch terms inherited from Middle Low German
- Plautdietsch terms derived from Middle Low German
- Plautdietsch terms inherited from Old Saxon
- Plautdietsch terms derived from Old Saxon
- Plautdietsch lemmas
- Plautdietsch adjectives
- Plautdietsch 1-syllable words
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese 1-syllable words
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- pt:Computing