The Hebrew Root Explorer
Almost every Hebrew word is built on three letters. Learn the root and you stop memorising words one at a time — you start recognising families. Each root below has its core meaning, every word that grows out of it, the binyan of each verb, and where it turns up in the text.
14 roots · 91 words
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These core roots below are free for anyone to reference. Inside the Lashon practice app, the Root Explorer dynamically maps every root across all your lessons, connecting over 400 root families to their binyanim conjugations, sound recordings, and Biblical/modern examples as you learn.
ב.ר.א (bara) is the verb of Genesis 1:1 — creation by God, never by a craftsman. It does not mean "to choose"; that is a different root that looks similar in transliteration.
ב.ח.ר (bachar) is the Hebrew root for choosing — the verb behind the chosen people, the chosen one, and the word Israelis use for a general election.
ב.ר.ר (barar) starts as sifting grain and ends as clarity — the same root gives Hebrew "obvious", "it turned out that", and the word for an alternative.
כ.ת.ב (katav) is the writing root: script, letter, address, marriage contract and Scripture itself all come out of these three letters.
ש.מ.ר (shamar) covers guarding a place, keeping a commandment and preserving something over time — one verb where English needs three.
ל.מ.ד (lamad) means learn in the simple binyan and teach in the intensive — the same root gives Hebrew student, teacher and Talmud.
ד.ב.ר (daber) gives Hebrew both "word" and "thing" in a single noun, davar — plus the Ten Commandments, the book of Deuteronomy, and the word for wilderness.
ק.ד.ש (kadash) does not mean pure or good — it means separated, reserved, marked off for one purpose. Kiddush, Kaddish, mikdash and Jewish betrothal all come from it.
ש.ל.ם (shalem) means whole, not calm. Shalom, paying a bill, finishing a task and the name Jerusalem all sit on this root.
א.מ.ן (aman) is the root of amen, emunah (faith), ne'eman (trustworthy) and the modern Hebrew for a sports coach. The core sense is firmness, not belief.
ר.ח.ם (racham) ties compassion to the womb — rechem is a womb, rachamim is mercy, and they are the same three letters.
י.ש.ע (yasha) is the salvation root — behind yeshuah, hoshana, and the names Joshua, Isaiah, Hosea and Yeshua.
ה.ל.ך (halakh) means to walk, and halakhah — Jewish law — is literally "the way one walks". One of the most irregular verbs in the language.
ז.כ.ר (zakhar) is remembering as an act rather than a mental state — the root behind zikaron, Yizkor, Yad Vashem's zekher, and the Shabbat command to remember.
Yaacov, native Jerusalemite
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