root

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) 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.
2. (countable, uncountable) A root vegetable.
3. (countable, uncountable) The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place.
4. (countable, uncountable) The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place.
5. (countable, uncountable) The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated.
6. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) The primary source; origin.
7. (countable, uncountable) The section of a wing immediately adjacent to the fuselage.
8. (countable, uncountable) The bottom of the thread of a threaded object.
9. (countable, uncountable) Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression.
10. (countable, uncountable) A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, "the root of" is often abbreviated to "root").
11. (countable, uncountable) A zero (of an equation).
12. (countable, uncountable) The single node of a tree that has no parent.
13. (countable, uncountable) 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.
14. (countable, uncountable) A word from which another word or words are derived.
15. (countable, uncountable) The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.
16. (countable, uncountable) The lowest place, position, or part.
17. (countable, uncountable) 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.
18. (countable, uncountable) The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories.
19. (countable, slang, uncountable) A penis, especially the base of a penis.

Verb

1. To grow roots; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow.
2. To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings.
3. To fix firmly; to establish.
4. (slang, transitive) To get root or privileged access on (a computer system or mobile phone), often through bypassing some security mechanism.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To turn up or dig with the snout.
2. (broadly) To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.
3. (intransitive) To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.
4. (intransitive) Of a baby: to turn the head and open the mouth in search of food.
5. (transitive) To root out; to abolish.
6. To tug or pull at the reins aggressively by driving the head downwards while wearing a bit.
7. (Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, slang, vulgar) To sexually penetrate.

Verb

To cheer (on); to show support (for) and hope for the success of. (See root for.)

Opposite of

crest, pole

Synonyms

origin

source

base

stem

cause

foundation

basis

radical

beginning

take root

bottom

ancestor

foot

🦶

principle

fibre

tuber

rhizome

trunk

progenitor

solution

antecedent

etymon

rootage

radix

plant

🌱

cheer

heart

❤️

medicine

💊

fount

root word

rootle

theme

derivation

settle down

seed

settle

bone

🦴

rope

🪢

core

reason

rout

square root

nerve

ascendent

mainspring

grub

fuck

👉👌

kick

poke

ascendant

Translations

racine

raíz

Wurzel

radice

raiz

wortel

ρίζα

radix

arrel

kök

جذر

raiç

origine

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹuːt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: rote

Inherited from Old English: rōt

Cognate with Icelandic: rót

Inherited from Middle English: wroten

Inherited from Old English: wrōtan

Cognate with Old English: wrōt

In summary

PIE word
*wréh₂ds
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”); Doublet of wort, radish, and radix.

Sentences

Focusing correction on root causes has the goal of entirely preventing problem recurrence .