Root Meaning
/ɹuːt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe 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.
nounA root vegetable.
Sentence Examples
Money is the root of all evil.
These words are derived from the same root.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tree's ____ grew deep into the ground to absorb water and nutrients.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The botanist studied how the plant's ____ system absorbed nutrients from the soil.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *wréh₂ds From Middle English rote, root, roote (“the underground part of a plant”), from late Old English rōt, from Old Norse rót (“root”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“root”), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”); Doublet of wort, radish, and radix. Cognate with Scots ruit, rute (“root”), Danish rod (“root”), Faroese and Icelandic rót (“root”), Norwegian and Swedish rot (“root”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A Greek historian Phylarchus describes a white root indigenous to India that caused eunuchism when a person bathed in water in which the root was steeped."
— 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 123:
"A root caught Ulot's left foot and he almost fell."
— 1981, Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 6:
"[...] 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."
— 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:
"Phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion, and was definitely the opponent of evil and darkness."
— 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 160:
"In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation / I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]"
— 1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tree's ____ grew deep into the ground to absorb water and nutrients.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The botanist studied how the plant's ____ system absorbed nutrients from the soil.