foreign roots
Heritage from abroad
Foreign roots are words or word parts borrowed from other languages that have become embedded in English.
Latin, Greek, French, and Germanic languages contribute heavily: The word "telephone" has Greek roots.
Someone studying vocabulary might learn foreign roots to decode unfamiliar words, since recognizing bio- (life) or -ology (study of) unlocks dozens of terms.
The phrase can also describe a person's ancestry from another country: Her foreign roots showed in her cooking.
- etymologyWord origin study
- word originSource of a term
- borrowed wordTerm adopted from another language
- immigrantOne who resettles abroad
- melting potCultural fusion place
cultural identity · transplant · borrowed · loanword · exotic · heritage · old country · ancestry · family tree · origin · alien · imported · native · diaspora · homeland · linguistic · Latin · Greek
foreign rootsnative heritage
Ancestral cultural background
indigenous roots · native roots · indigenous ancestry · native ancestry · indigenous heritage
foreign, foreigner, foreigners, foreignness, root, roots, rooted, rooting, rootless