root

pronunciation

How to pronounce root in British English: UK [ruːt] word uk audio image

How to pronounce root in American English: US [ruːt] word us audio image

Noun:

(botany) the usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes; absorbs water and mineral salts; usually it anchors the plant to the ground
(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed
the place where something begins, where it springs into being
a number that when multiplied by itself some number of times equals a given number
the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation
someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
a simple form inferred as the common basis from which related words in several languages can be derived by linguistic processes
the part of a tooth that is embedded in the jaw and serves as support
Verb:

take root and begin to grow
come into existence, originate
plant by the roots
dig with the snout
take sides with; align oneself with; show strong sympathy for
become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style
cause to take roots

Word Origin

root: root: Root of a plant [OE] and root ‘dig with the nose’ [14] are distinct words. The former was borrowed from Old Norse rót, which goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *wrd-. This also produced Latin rādīx ‘root’, source of English radical, radish, etc. Root ‘dig’ is an alteration of an earlier wroot, which went back to Old English wrōtan. It is usually assumed that root ‘cheer, support’, which first emerged in America in the late 19th century, is the same word.=> radical, radish

root (n.): "underground part of a plant," late Old English rot, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse rot "root," figuratively "cause, origin," from Proto-Germanic *wrot (cognates: Old English wyrt "root, herb, plant," Old High German wurz, German Wurz "a plant," Gothic waurts "a root," with characteristic Scandinavian loss of -w- before -r-), from PIE *wrad- (see radish (n.), and compare wort). The usual Old English words for "root" were wyrttruma and wyrtwala. Figurative use is from c. 1200. Of teeth, hair, etc., from early 13c. Mathematical sense is from 1550s. Philological sense from 1520s. Slang meaning "penis" is recorded from 1846. In U.S. black use, "a spell effected by magical properties of roots," 1935. To take root is from 1530s. Root beer, made from the extracts of various roots, first recorded 1841, American English; root doctor is from 1821. Root cap is from 1875.

root (v.1): "dig with the snout," 1530s, from Middle English wroten "dig with the snout," from Old English wrotan "to root up," from Proto-Germanic *wrot- (cognates: Old Norse rota, Swedish rota "to dig out, root," Middle Low German wroten, Middle Dutch wroeten, Old High German ruozian "to plow up"), from PIE root *wrod- "to root, gnaw." Associated with the verb sense of root (n.). Extended sense of "poke about, pry" first recorded 1831. Phrase root hog or die "work or fail" first attested 1834, American English (in works of Davey Crockett, who noted it as an "old saying"). Reduplicated form rootin' tootin' "noisy, rambunctious" is recorded from 1875.

root (v.2): "cheer, support," 1889, American English, originally in a baseball context, probably from root (v.1) via intermediate sense of "study, work hard" (1856). Related: Rooted; rooting.

root (v.3): "fix or firmly attach by roots" (often figurative), early 13c., from root (n.); sense of "pull up by the root" (now usually uproot) also is from late 14c. Related: Rooted; rooting.