What is the meaning of roots?

noun

• Botany) the usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes; absorbs water and mineral salts; usually it anchors the plant to the ground.
  • synonyms: root
• The place where something begins, where it springs into being.
  • usage: "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root"
  • synonyms: beginning, origin, root, rootage, source
• Linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed. (
  • usage: "thematic vowels are part of the stem"
  • synonyms: root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical
• A number that, when multiplied by itself some number of times, equals a given number.
  • synonyms: root
• The set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation.
  • synonyms: solution, root
• Someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent.
  • synonyms: ancestor, ascendant, ascendent, antecedent, root
• A simple form inferred as the common basis from which related words in several languages can be derived by linguistic processes.
  • synonyms: etymon, root
• The part of a tooth that is embedded in the jaw and serves as support.
  • synonyms: root, tooth root
• The condition of belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of social or ethnic or cultural lineage.
  • usage: "his roots in Texas go back a long way"; "he went back to Sweden to search for his roots"; "his music has African roots"

verb

• Take root and begin to grow.
  • usage: "this plant roots quickly"
  • synonyms: root
• Come into existence, originate.
  • usage: "The problem roots in her depression"
  • synonyms: root
• Plant by the roots.
  • synonyms: root
• Dig with the snout.
  • usage: "the pig was rooting for truffles"
  • synonyms: rout, root, rootle
• Become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style.
  • usage: "He finally settled down"
  • synonyms: settle, root, take root, steady down, settle down
• Cause to take roots.
  • synonyms: root