When two letters/pictographs are put together, a Parent Root word is formed. When the "" (B - beyt, a house) is combined with the "" (N - nun, a seed which continues the next generation) the Parent Root "" (BeN) is formed. The two letters of this root have the combined meaning of the "house continues" and is usually translated as a "son", the one who continues the house to the next generation.

Another example is the Parent Root "" (shaph). The "" is a picture of the two front teeth meaning "sharp". The "" is a mouth. This Parent Root means "a sharp mouth" or simply "a serpent" whose sharp fangs are in the mouth.

Of the twenty-two letters of the Semitic alphabet, four originally doubled as a consonant and a vowel and are called "weak" consonants. These four are the "" (A), "" (H, E), "" (W, O, and U) and "" (Y, I). The remaining eighteen consonants are called "strong consonants".

A Child Root is formed by adding one of the consonant/vowels to the front, middle or end of the Parent Root. All the Child Roots formed from one Parent Root are directly related in meaning to the Parent Root. Below are the Child Roots formed from the Parent Root "BaL" meaning, "flow";

An adopted root is a three consonant root consisting of three strong consonants. These roots are not part of the original parent/child root system of the Semitic language but were evolved out of it over time or were introduced from a non-Semitic language.

The following adopted roots were formed by adding another strong consonant to the parent root "PaR" meaning, break.