Roots · The core

English Word Roots

Root Overview

A word root is the core unit of meaning inside an English word, most of them inherited from Latin and Greek. Learn one root and you unlock a whole family of words at once — for example port ("to carry") hides inside transport, export, import, support, and report. Instead of memorizing words one by one, you learn the system that generates them.

Below is every root word in our database, sortable alphabetically or by productivity (number of associated words). Click any root to see its full word family, pronunciation, and bilingual explanation. To browse by origin, see Latin roots and Greek roots; to browse by morpheme type, see prefixes and suffixes.

New to roots? Start with What Are Root Words? or jump to the most common root words. Preparing for an exam? See our GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS root guides.

Showing 596 of 596

abil

acer

acerb

acid

acro

act

aer

aesthet

aev

ag

agon

agr

air

alesc

alg

ali

am

ambul

ampl

angle

anim

ann

ant

anthropo

apt

aqu

arab

arc

arch

archaeo