root

Pluralroots

Formsroots, rooting, rooted

1. 1
   plant partnouncountable or uncountable

   The part of a plant, usually underground, that anchors and supports it, absorbs and stores water and nutrients, and in some plants can produce new growth.

   Like a building's foundation: hidden below, yet holding everything up while feeding it from the ground.

   The oak's roots spread wider underground than its branches do above.

   Each root draws water and minerals from the surrounding soil.

2. 2
   originnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   The primary source or origin from which something develops.

   Like the single seed an entire forest can be traced back to.

   Investigators traced the scandal back to its root in a single bad deal.

   Resentment lay at the root of the long family feud.

   UsageCommon frames: at the root of a problem, the root of all evil, root cause.

   Similarsource, origin, basis

   Note

   The figurative sense, familiar from the proverb 'the love of money is the root of all evil.' A common frame is at the root of, as when Rollo Ahmed in The Black Art (1936) claims that 'phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion,' which places a cause underneath its consequences. Origin and source name where something starts. Root adds the picture of something buried that keeps feeding what grows above it, and the plural can mean ancestry. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The quoted saying is an established proverb. en.wiktionary.org
   • Rollo Ahmed's The Black Art was first published in 1936. openlibrary.org
   • Ahmed wrote the quoted words in The Black Art. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To fix something firmly in place; to establish it securely.

   Years of hard work had rooted the small bakery firmly in the life of the neighborhood.

   Strong communities root their members in shared traditions.

   UsageMost common as a past participle: rooted in tradition, deeply rooted, firmly rooted.

   Similaranchor, ground, embed, establish, entrench

   Oppositeuproot

   Note

   A 2020 essay says wartime massacres often seem 'rooted in irrational emotion.' The verb also works without an object, of something that settles in and holds. Michael Bronski in 1981 hopes a young theater company will 'firmly root,' and John Fell's life of Henry Hammond gives misapprehensions no 'leave to root and fasten.' Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • A 2020 essay contains the quoted description of wartime massacres. theguardian.com
   • A 1981 review by Michael Bronski expresses optimism that a young theater company will become established, using 'firmly root'. en.wiktionary.org
   • John Fell's life of Henry Hammond contains the quoted phrase about misapprehensions. anglicanhistory.org
4. 4
   nouncountable

   Where a person comes from in terms of family, ethnicity or culture, or the bond they feel with their home place; usually plural.

   The singer has never forgotten her working-class roots.

   After decades abroad, he returned to the village to reconnect with his roots.

   UsageUsually plural and possessive: her roots, working-class roots. Put down roots means settle somewhere new.

   Similarorigins, background, heritage

5. 5
   cheer forverbUSintransitive

   To cheer on a person or team and hope for their success.

   Fans root for their side through every win and loss.

   I'm rooting for you to land that new job.

   UsageFollowed by for: we're rooting for you. In Australia and New Zealand people say barrack for, since root is vulgar there.

   Similarbarrack

   Note

   An American sense with a separate origin. It is possibly an alteration of rout, 'to make a loud noise,' shaped by hoot, so it has nothing to do with plants or pigs. It takes for or on, as in Jack Norworth's 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' (1908): 'root, root, root for the home team.' Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The American cheering sense has a separate etymology, possibly from rout influenced by hoot, rather than from the plant or pig senses. en.wiktionary.org
   • Jack Norworth wrote the song's words; Albert Von Tilzer composed its music. levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu
   • The song was first published in 1908. levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu
   • The quoted words occur in the original 1908 lyrics. en.wikipedia.org
6. 6
   nouncountable

   The part of a tooth, hair or nail that is embedded in the body, or the base of a nerve, the tongue or another body part where it joins the body.

   Pressure on a nerve root in his lower back sent pain shooting down his leg.

   Each hair grows from a root buried in a tiny pocket of skin.

   Similarbase

   Note

   Medicine keeps the plant image alive in nerve root, the root of the tongue and the root of a nail, always the anchored end rather than the free one. The same picture survives in Latin-based terms: radiculopathy, the medical name for trouble at a spinal nerve root, often from compression, comes from Latin radix, the word behind English radical and radish. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

   • Nerve roots are the portions arising from the spinal cord, consistent with the anchored-base image. openstax.org
   • The tongue's root is its attached posterior portion. en.wikipedia.org
   • The nail root is its embedded growing end, rather than its free edge. openstax.org
   • Radiculopathy concerns a spinal nerve root and commonly involves compression. hopkinsmedicine.org
   • Radiculopathy ultimately derives from Latin radix, meaning root. en.wikipedia.org
   • English radical ultimately derives from Latin radix through radicalis. en.wiktionary.org
   • English radish ultimately derives from Latin radix, through its accusative form radicem. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   vegetablenouncountable or uncountable

   An underground vegetable eaten as food, such as a carrot, beet, or turnip.

   The winter stew was thick with roots and barley.

   Peel and grate the root before adding it to the salad.

   UsageCooks usually say root vegetables; farmers use roots for the whole crop.

   Note

   A farmer's word as much as a cook's. When George Orwell writes in 1945 of fields that 'should have been sown with roots', the plural stands for a whole class of crop, such as turnips or beets grown for their edible underground part, rather than for single pieces. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The Orwell passage appeared in a work first published in 1945: Animal Farm. orwellfoundation.com
   • The quotation is exact and occurs in the narration of Orwell's Animal Farm, Chapter VI. gutenberg.net.au
8. 8
   source wordnouncountable or uncountable

   The basic part of a word that carries its main meaning and from which other words are formed, as Latin 'aqua' in 'aquatic.'

   The Latin root 'aqua' underlies 'aquatic,' 'aquarium,' and 'aqueduct.'

   Two Greek roots combine to form the word 'telephone.'

   Similarbase

   Note

   The root can be a whole word, often in an older language, from which later words descend, or a core part of a word that cannot stand alone. Latin aqua is a root in this sense for aquatic and aqueduct. For the first use the technical term is etymon, which keeps it apart from the second. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • A historical source word may be called a root; etymon is the technical term. en.wikipedia.org
   • A morphological root can be unable to stand alone. en.wikipedia.org
   • Aquatic ultimately derives from Latin aqua. en.wiktionary.org
   • Aqueduct ultimately derives in part from Latin aqua. en.wiktionary.org
   • Etymon distinguishes a historical source form from a root in morphological analysis. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   square (math)nouncountable or uncountable

   A number that, multiplied by itself a given number of times, gives a stated number; without a stated power, the square root.

   Taking the root of both sides solves the equation neatly.

   The root of two cannot be written as a simple fraction.

   UsageRoot 2 is short for the square root of 2. For other powers, name them: cube root, fourth root.

   Note

   The default reading when no power is named: 'root 2' means the square root of 2, and 'multiply by root 2' is the everyday shortening. An older idiom framed it as a relationship rather than an operation. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's translation of Dante's The New Life calls three 'the root of the number nine.' By convention the bare term means the principal, nonnegative value, so the root of nine is 3. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • Dante Gabriel Rossetti translated Dante Alighieri's The New Life. gutenberg.org
   • Rossetti's translation calls three 'the root of the number nine'. gutenberg.org
   • A square root can be positive or negative. The principal square root of a nonnegative real number is the nonnegative one. openstax.org
   • The principal square root of nine is 3. en.wikipedia.org
10. 10
    verbintransitive

    To put out roots and begin growing, as a plant settling into the soil; also, to make a cutting or plant do this.

    Willow branches root quickly when pushed into damp earth.

    The seedlings rooted within days of being planted.

    UsageAlso common as take root: the cuttings took root quickly.

    Similartake, establish

11. 11
    wipe outverbtransitive

    To eliminate or abolish something completely, as though pulling it out by the roots.

    The new coach promised to root out the bad habits that had cost the team so many games.

    Inspectors rooted out the unsafe practices across the factory.

    UsageMost often as root out: root out corruption, root out bad habits.

    Similareradicate, eliminate, purge, remove, abolish

    Note

    A weed pulled up by its roots is the picture behind root out. Some sources connect this sense to the plant noun; others group it with the digging, snouting verb. It has a long literary history. The Gardener in Shakespeare's Richard II (1597) will 'root away the noisome weeds,' and the King James Bible of 1611 has 'The Lord rooted them out of their land.' Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

    • The imagery behind root out is pulling a plant out by its roots. en.wiktionary.org
    • Some sources group the abolishing sense with the digging or snouting verb; Wiktionary places both under Etymology 2. en.wiktionary.org
    • The sense has a literary history extending back to Shakespeare. folger.edu
    • Richard II was first published in 1597, as confirmed by its first-quarto title page. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • The Gardener speaks the quoted words in Shakespeare's Richard II, Act 3, scene 4. folger.edu
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. exhibits.lib.byu.edu
    • The King James Bible contains the quoted wording, in Deuteronomy 29:28. en.wikisource.org
12. 12
    top foldernouncountable or uncountable

    The topmost directory of a file system, able to contain both files and subdirectories.

    The installer placed the configuration file at the root of the disk.

    Move up far enough through the folders and you reach the root.

    Note

    Every path on a hierarchical file system ultimately starts here. On Unix-like systems the root is written as a single forward slash, the ancestor of all other paths. Root directory is the full phrase, and people also speak of the root of a disk or drive when files are placed at the very top level. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • On Unix-like systems, a single forward slash denotes the root directory. sourceware.org
    • The root directory heads the directory hierarchy. learn.microsoft.com
    • A disk or drive has a root directory at its top level, which can contain files directly. cs.sjsu.edu
13. 13
    admin accountnouncountable or uncountable

    In UNIX-like systems, the superuser account, with complete control over the operating system, conventionally user ID 0.

    Only root can install software for every user on the machine.

    She logged in as root to reset the forgotten passwords.

    UsageUsually no article, like a name: log in as root.

    Similarsuperuser

    Note

    A user name before it is a description: on UNIX systems the all-powerful account is literally called root. Superuser is the descriptive synonym. The account's home was originally the root directory, the top of the directory tree. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The Unix superuser account is called root and has unrestricted privileges. docs.freebsd.org
    • The account originally had its home in the root directory. en.wikipedia.org
    • The root directory is the top of the directory tree. en.wikipedia.org
14. 14
    unlock devicesverbslangtransitive

    To gain root or administrator-level access to a computer or phone, often by bypassing a security restriction.

    You can root the tablet to install custom software.

    He rooted his old phone to delete the bundled apps.

    Similarjailbreak

    Note

    Slang built on the all-powerful UNIX account: to root a device is to become root on it. Two settings use it differently. An intruder roots someone else's machine to plant malicious software. Phone owners root their own Android handset to strip out preinstalled software. Jailbreak is the near-synonym for that second, self-directed kind. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The computing verb root refers to obtaining root or privileged access, linking it to the superuser account. en.wiktionary.org
    • Attackers can root another person's device to install malicious software. attack.mitre.org
    • Rooting an Android phone can enable removal of preinstalled software. en.wikipedia.org
    • Jailbreak is a near-synonym for rooting a mobile phone. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    top nodenouncountable or uncountable

    The single node at the top of a tree that has no parent node.

    Every tree in this structure has exactly one root.

    In a binary search tree, every lookup begins at the root and works downward.

    Oppositeleaf

    Note

    Graph theory and computing draw their trees upside down. The root sits at the top, the one node with no parent, and every other node descends from it along a single path. The botanical name survives the inversion because the root is still where the structure begins. A file system's top-level directory applies the same idea to folders. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Rooted trees are conventionally drawn with the root at the top. tarjotin.cs.aalto.fi
    • The root is the only node without a parent. ics.uci.edu
    • Every other node has a unique path from the root. en.wikipedia.org
    • A file system's top-level directory corresponds to the root of a tree. en.wikipedia.org

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