What are root words?

A root word is a word that has nothing added at the beginning or the end. It stands on its own as a word, it has a meaning. New words can be made from root words by adding beginnings (prefixes) and endings (suffixes).

For example, clear is a root word. By adding prefixes and suffixes you can make these new words:

unclear, clearly, cleared.

All of these words have grown from their root word. They share parts of the same spelling and they are linked in terms of meaning. They are known as a word family.

Root words are helpful because:

• You can use a root word to help you with other spellings.
• If you recognise the root of a word when you are reading it can help you to work out what the word is and what it means.

There are spelling rules for adding suffixes and prefixes to root words. To find out more visit the Skillswise Suffixes and Prefixes modules.

Here are some more examples of root words and the word families that grow from them:

      use: useless, usable, used, using, user, misuse

      employ: employment, unemployment, employer, employee, employing

      manage: manager, managing, manages, manageable, unmanageable

      beauty: beautiful, beautifully, beautician

      faith: faithful, faithfully, unfaithful, unfaithfully

For more root words look at Factsheet 2.