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uproot

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Etymology and origin of the English word uproot

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌʌpˈɹuːt/[1]
  • US: /ˌʌpˈɹut/[1]

uproot1 pull up by the roots

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1593 before 1593, the adjective uprooted in C. Marlowe's translation of Lucan
Ultimate origin
Old Norse rót
Etymology tree of uproot1
inherited borrowed derived
English root
English uproot
From the same root · uproot1
English rout ← root

Etymology

It is formed from English up- + root,[2][3][4][5][6] from the verb meaning to fix by roots or to pull up by the root, which comes from the noun.[4][2] The underlying noun is from Old English rōt, from Old Norse rót.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rooted up, eradicated, also figuratively: the adjective uprooted is recorded before 1593, in C. Marlowe's translation of Lucan,[2] and Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date the use to the 1590s or late 16th century.[4][3] The OED's first record of the verb itself, figurative, is from before 1639, in J. Dyke;[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to about 1620,[6] and Dictionary.com to 1610–20.[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, to remove utterly, came first in the record, and the literal one followed.[4][2] The verbal phrase root up lies behind it,[4] and the verb root alone had meant to pull up by the root from the late 14th century.[4] Johnson (1755) defined the word only as tearing up by the root, with a quotation from Dryden.[7] Modern dictionaries add the sense of moving people from their home or native surroundings,[8][6][3] and the OED records an intransitive use, to leave one's accustomed surroundings and cut oneself off from one's origins, from before 1961.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1593 – the adjective uprooted, rooted up, eradicated.[2]
  • before 1639 – verb, figurative: to eradicate, to destroy.[2]
  • 1695 – to tear up by the roots, in Congreve.[2] Etymonline likewise records the literal sense by the 1690s.[4]
  • 1891 – noun, an uprooted tree.[2]
  • before 1961 – intransitive, to move away and cut oneself off from one's origins.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pull a plant up by the roots: The gale uprooted three old beeches.[8][6][2]
  2. To remove or destroy something completely; to eradicate: a campaign to uproot corruption.[8][6][2]
  3. To force people away from their home, country or usual surroundings: The flood uprooted hundreds of families.[8][6][3]
  4. Without an object, to leave one's accustomed place and sever ties with one's origins.[2]

Noun

  1. A tree that has been uprooted.[2]

Word family

  • uprooted
  • uprootedness
  • uprooter

uproot2 dig up with the snout

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1726 W. Broome, in A. Pope's translation of the Odyssey
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną
Etymology tree of uproot2
inherited borrowed derived
English root
English uproot
From the same root · uproot2
English rout ← root

Etymology

The word for digging up with the snout is formed from English up- + root,[2][3][6] from the verb used of swine, which is from Middle English wroten, from Old English wrōtan (“to root up”),[4] from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną.[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To grub up: 1726, in W. Broome's part of the translation of the Odyssey by A. Pope and others.[2] The Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 18th century and says it is used of an animal.[3]

Timeline

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of an animal, to dig something up with the snout; to grub up.[6][3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill

Related etymologies

  • glitter · also from Old Norse
  • rag · also from Old Norse
  • weave · also from Old Norse
  • marrow · also from Old Norse
  • ling · also from Old Norse
  • brink · also from Old Norse
  • skinner · also from Old Norse
  • scalp · also from Old Norse
Cite this entry

“Uproot.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/uproot. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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