rootlet

American

[root-lit, root-] / ˈrut lɪt, ˈrʊt- /

noun

Botany.

a little root.
a small or fine branch of a root.
one of the adventitious roots by which ivy or the like clings to rocks or other supports.

rootlet British

/ ˈruːtlɪt /

noun

a small root or branch of a root

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of rootlet

First recorded in 1785–95; root ¹ + -let

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I believe it was the last, deepest rootlet of my denial, expelled.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 16, 2019

It suits Tryon to imagine a great green heart beating slowly beneath the earth, with every rootlet and capillary in the village pulsing to it.

From Time Magazine Archive

A seed does not normally germinate until the rootlet of a suitable plant creeps close to it through the soil.

From Time Magazine Archive

I wouldn’t trade a single rootlet for any of it.

From "Wishtree" by Katherine Applegate

From each of these pits there proceeds, in perfect examples, a long cylindrical rootlet; but in many cases these have altogether disappeared.

From The Ancient Life History of the Earth A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of Palæontological Science by Nicholson, Henry Alleyne

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023