n. 1
The primary source; origin.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
n. 2
The 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.
This tree's roots can go as deep as twenty metres underground.
v. 1
To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil.
rooting about in a junk-filled drawer
v. 2
To sexually penetrate.

Related words

Word family: rooted rooter rootle
Phrases: root out root for root up squaw root papoose root root and branch pleurisy root buttress root
Other spellings: root word wrout

Forms

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

3 letters: set¹, bed¹, fix¹, tap¹
4 letters: base¹, seed¹, stem¹, bang¹, bulb¹, poke¹, rout¹, shag¹, pith¹, ream¹
5 letters: found¹, cause¹, basis², stick¹, theme¹, screw¹, drill¹, grope¹, tuber², radix
6 letters: source¹, bottom², origin³, settle², rootle
7 letters: radical³, implant², barrack², rummage², taproot, rootage, grabble
8 letters: solution³, ancestor³, radicate
9 letters: beginning³, establish³, jailbreak², ascendant³, rootstock
10 letters: foundation³, derivation⁴, antecedent⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (basis² = 2 syllables).