branch vs root

branch

noun
  • Any of the parts of something that divides like the branch of a tree. 

  • An area in business or of knowledge, research. 

  • A local congregation of the LDS Church that is not large enough to form a ward; see Wikipedia article on ward in LDS church. 

  • The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing. 

  • A sequence of code that is conditionally executed. 

  • A creek or stream which flows into a larger river. 

  • One of the portions of a curve that extends outwards to an indefinitely great distance. 

  • A group of related files in a source control system, including for example source code, build scripts, and media such as images. 

  • A branch line. 

  • A certificate given by Trinity House to a pilot qualified to take navigational control of a ship in British waters. 

  • A location of an organization with several locations. 

  • A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line. 

verb
  • To jump to a different location in a program, especially as the result of a conditional statement. 

  • To arise from the trunk or a larger branch of a tree. 

  • To strip of branches. 

  • To discipline (a union member) at a branch meeting. 

  • To produce branches. 

  • To (cause to) divide into separate parts or subdivisions. 

root

noun
  • The single node of a tree that has no parent. 

  • A sexual partner. 

  • The highest directory of a directory structure which may contain both files and subdirectories. 

  • A square root (understood if no power is specified; in which case, "the root of" is often abbreviated to "root"). 

  • A zero (of an equation). 

  • The primary source; origin. 

  • The primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Inflectional stems often derive from roots. 

  • Of a number or expression, a number which, when raised to a specified power, yields the specified number or expression. 

  • A root vegetable. 

  • The part of a hair near the skin that has not been dyed, permed, or otherwise treated. 

  • The lowest place, position, or part. 

  • The part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place. 

  • The bottom of the thread of a threaded object. 

  • A word from which another word or words are derived. 

  • The part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors and supports the plant body, absorbs and stores water and nutrients, and in some plants is able to perform vegetative reproduction. 

  • The fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed. 

  • An act of sexual intercourse. 

  • The section of a wing immediately adjacent to the fuselage. 

  • The part of a hair under the skin that holds the hair in place. 

  • In UNIX terminology, the first user account with complete access to the operating system and its configuration, found at the root of the directory structure; the person who manages accounts on a UNIX system. 

  • A penis, especially the base of a penis. 

verb
  • To be firmly fixed; to be established. 

  • To prepare, oversee, or otherwise cause the rooting of cuttings. 

  • To grow roots; to enter the earth, as roots; to take root and begin to grow. 

  • To sexually penetrate. 

  • To get root or privileged access on a computer system or mobile phone, often through bypassing some security mechanism. 

  • To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn. 

  • To turn up or dig with the snout. 

  • Of a baby: to turn the head and open the mouth in search of food. 

  • To rummage; to search as if by digging in soil. 

  • To root out; to abolish. 

  • To cheer (on); to show support (for) and hope for the success of. (See root for.) 

How often have the words branch and root occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )