Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Root

Definition: 

A root is the portion of a word that

  • is common to a set of derived or inflected forms, if any, when all affixes are removed
  • is not further analyzable into meaningful elements, being morphologically simple, and
  • carries the principle portion of meaning of the words in which it functions.
Discussion: 

If a root does not occur by itself in a meaningful way in a language, it is referred to as a bound morpheme.
Examples: 
  • Disestablish
  • Establishment
  • Establishments
See Also: 
Stem
Derivation
Inflection
Affix (Linguistics)
Bound Morpheme
Source: 
Crystal 1985
268
Hartmann and Stork 1972
199
Pei and Gaynor 1954
187–188
Mish 1991
1023
Matthews 1991
64

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.

LinguaLinks Ordering Information

Glossary Hierarchy

  • Morpheme Type
  • Root