root1

noun

• 1the part of a plant that attaches it to the ground or to a support, typically underground, conveying water and nourishment to the rest of the plant via numerous branches and fibers:cacti have deep and spreading roots a tree root
• the persistent underground part of a plant, especially when fleshy and enlarged and used as a vegetable, e.g., a turnip or carrot.
• any plant grown for its edible root.
• the embedded part of a bodily organ or structure such as a hair, tooth, or nail:her hair was fairer at the roots
• the part of a thing attaching it to a greater or more fundamental whole; the end or base:a little lever near the root of the barrel

• 2the basic cause, source, or origin of something:love of money is the root of all evil jealousy was at the root of it [as modifier]:the root cause of the problem
• the essential substance or nature of something:matters at the heart and root of existence
• (roots) family, ethnic, or cultural origins, especially as the reasons for one’s long-standing emotional attachment to a place or community:it’s always nice to return to my roots
• (as adjective roots) denoting or relating to something, especially music, from a particular ethnic or cultural origin, especially a non-Western one:roots music
• (in biblical use) a scion; a descendant:the root of David
• Linguistics a morpheme, not necessarily surviving as a word in itself, from which words have been made by the addition of prefixes or suffixes or by other modification:many European words stem from this linguistic root [as modifier]:the root form of the word
• Music the fundamental note of a chord.

• 3 Mathematics a number or quantity that when multiplied by itself, typically a specified number of times, gives a specified number or quantity:find the cube root of the result
• short for square root.
• a value of an unknown quantity satisfying a given equation:the roots of the equation differ by an integer

verb

• 1cause (a plant or cutting) to grow roots:root your own cuttings from stock plants
• [no object] (of a plant or cutting) establish roots:large trees had rooted in the canal bank

• 2 (usually be rooted) establish deeply and firmly:vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture
• (be rooted in) have as an origin or cause:the Latin dubitare is rooted in an Indo-European word
• (often as adjective rooted) cause (someone) to stand immobile through fear or amazement:she found herself rooted to the spot in disbelief