Зри в Корень
This is the first in the series Зри в Корень, which literally means “get at the root” and is an idiom meaning “get to the heart of [a matter]”. In each article, we look at one root and common words that share that same root. Identifying roots can help you remember new words more easily.
Word formation in Russian. Why is it important?
Word formation in Russian is important to learn and understand if you want to master the language. Digging for the root of a word will give you insights about its meaning. Being a native speaker, I am still surprised sometimes how unexpected the relation of one word to another one can be! For your whole life, you don’t realize that there is a connection and a shared root! I like that! It helps me understand my mother tongue better. And I like that it helps my students memorize vocabulary faster.
лич/лиц
Today I would like to show you how productive the root лич/лиц (face) is and share some frequently used collocations and idioms in which the derivatives of this root are used. Поехали!
| Audio | Russian | English | Root |
| лицо́ | face | лиц/лич | |
| выраже́ние лица́ | facial expression | лиц/лич | |
| юриди́ческое лицо́ | legal entity | лиц/лич | |
| С лица́ во́ду не пить. | Beauty is only skin deep. | лиц/лич | |
| ули́ка | evidence | лиц/лич | |
| пряма́я ули́ка | direct evidence | лиц/лич | |
| ли́чность | personality, character | лиц/лич | |
| выдаю́щаяся ли́чность | well-known figure, personage, star, person of figure, prominent figure | лиц/лич | |
| нали́чные | cash | лиц/лич | |
| плати́ть нали́чными | to pay in cash | лиц/лич | |
| ли́чный | private, personal | лиц/лич | |
| ли́чная жизнь | private life | лиц/лич | |
| лицево́й | face-, front-, facial | лиц/лич | |
| лицево́й счет | personal [bank] account | лиц/лич | |
| неприли́чный | indecent, obscene, improper, unbecoming | лиц/лич | |
| неприли́чный анекдо́т | indecent story | лиц/лич | |
| отли́чный | great, excellent, fantastic | лиц/лич | |
| отли́чное настроение | fantastic mood | лиц/лич | |
| отлича́ться | to be different, differ | лиц/лич | |
| отлича́ться от остальны́х | to be different from the rest | лиц/лич | |
| ниче́м не отлича́ться от (кого́-либо) | to be no different from, not to differ from, be undistinguishable from | лиц/лич |
wow, I didnt know about this root system before! Thanks a lot for this useful information, it was very helpful for an intermediate learner like me.
Привет, Мэри! 🙂
Thanks for reading! We are happy that you found the article useful. Yeah, word building and “digging for the root’ helps me a lot in learning languages. What makes it more difficult in Russian is that the roots can be unrecognizable sometimes 🙂