Root (linguistics)

A root (also known as a root word or radical) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements. In <a href="/facts/Morphology_(linguistics)/fWkzsYE8">morphology</a>, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a <a href="/facts/Prefix/C4Lw8npg">prefix</a> or a <a href="/facts/Suffix/Nlnft3NK">suffix</a> can attach. The root word is the primary <a href="/facts/Lexicology/VDDMbfaJ">lexical</a> unit of a <a href="/facts/Word/sD4KyoLF">word</a>, and of a <a href="/facts/Word_family/6RFbGmSs">word family</a> (this root is then called the base word), which carries aspects of <a href="/facts/Semantics/1L4WwLAP">semantic</a> content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents.
<a href="/facts/Content_word/EV2rqeBx">Content words</a> in nearly all <a href="/facts/Language/IRcTok2q">languages</a> contain, and may consist only of, root <a href="/facts/Morpheme/4JNcPMHs">morphemes</a>. However, sometimes the term "root" is also used to describe the word without its <a href="/facts/Inflection/mhXSXpmJ">inflectional</a> endings, but with its lexical endings in place. For example, chatters has the inflectional root or <a href="/facts/Lemma_(morphology)/W4d8jVmI">lemma</a> chatter, but the lexical root chat. Inflectional roots are often called <a href="/facts/Stem_(linguistics)/7Aq8G5fP">stems</a>. A root, or a root morpheme, in the stricter sense, is a mono-morphemic stem.
The traditional definition allows roots to be either <a href="/facts/Free_morpheme/ns61qyu7">free morphemes</a> or <a href="/facts/Bound_morpheme/ns61qyu7">bound morphemes</a>. Root morphemes are the building blocks for <a href="/facts/Affixation/MKeAIE7e">affixation</a> and <a href="/facts/Compound_(linguistics)/IbumXJgd">compounds</a>. However, in <a href="/facts/Polysynthetic_language/ITwdxXgy">polysynthetic languages</a> with very high levels of inflectional morphology, the term "root" is generally synonymous with "free morpheme". Many languages have a very restricted number of morphemes that can stand alone as a word: <a href="/facts/Yup%2527ik_language/hmyAQv5C">Yup'ik</a>, for instance, has no more than two thousand.
Roots are sometimes notated using the <a href="/facts/Radical_symbol/jfKTFjtG">radical symbol</a> ⟨√⟩ to avoid potential conflation with other objects of analysis with similar spellings or pronunciation: for instance, √bhū- specifically denotes the <a href="/facts/Sanskrit/ychfjhlx">Sanskrit</a> root bhū-.

Root (linguistics) open-in-new

Root (linguistics)