rhizome (English)

Where does "rhizome" come from?

The English noun 'rhizome' was borrowed from Ancient Greek 'ῥίζωμα'[1], which is derived from 'ῥιζόω' combined with the suffix '-μα'[2]. In philosophy, the term was famously adopted by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as a metaphor representing an image of thought that apprehends multiplicities[1].

Full etymology tree

• rhizome (English), 'A horizontal, underground stem of some plants that sends out roots and shoots (scions) from its nodes.'
  • borrowed ῥίζωμα (rhízōma) (Ancient Greek), 'roots of a plant'
    • derived ῥιζόω (rhizóō) (Ancient Greek)
    • suffix -μα (-ma) (Ancient Greek), 'Added to verbal stems to form neuter nouns denoting the effect or result of an action, a particular instance of an action, or the object of an action'

Ancestors

• ῥίζωμα (Ancient Greek)

Descendants and derived words

• microrhizome (English)
• rhizomatic (English)
• rhizomatous (English)
• rhizomed (English)
• rhizomic (English)

Sources

1. rhizome (English) - Wiktionary
2. ῥίζωμα (rhízōma) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris