Primitive Roots
These are the 34 foundational roots of Tonesu — the conceptual atoms from which all words are built. Every compound is made from some combination of these.
Each root is a CV syllable (one consonant + one vowel). This shape is structurally distinct from all compounds and longer forms, so a primitive root is always recognisable by its shape alone.
The primitive set is closed. A new primitive requires very strong justification. If a concept can be expressed by compounding existing roots — even in a long chain — no new primitive is added.
Speaker icons (🔊)
Click any speaker icon 🔊 next to a root to hear it pronounced. Quality varies by browser — Chrome and Firefox generally sound most natural. The pronunciations use the Web Speech API's default voice and may not perfectly match the intended phonology; these are approximations only. For normative phonological details, see Sounds.
Entities and Substances
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
mu |
object / artifact | physical non-living things: tools, devices, structures |
ma |
matter / substance | raw unformed material; physical substrate |
zo |
living thing | any organism: plant, animal, fungus, microbe |
li |
social agent / person | conscious intentional actor; zo+li = human; mu+li = AI or institution |
Key compounds: zoli (human person) · muli (AI / institution) · muma (raw material for an object) · zoma (biological tissue)
Processes and Change
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
ki |
motion | physical movement, displacement, travel |
ka |
intentional action | deliberate acts, operations, exertion of will |
be |
growth / increase | building up, emergence, gaining |
de |
decay / decrease | breaking down, entropy, loss |
Key compounds: kabe (begin, initiate) · kade (destroy deliberately) · bede (transformation, cycle) · rakimu (engine — energy-motion-device)
Structure and Pattern
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
su |
structure / order | physical or organisational arrangement |
to |
conceptual pattern / thought | idea, plan, model, knowledge, mental representation |
fe |
boundary / limit | edge, category, distinction, threshold |
su vs to: a crystal lattice is su; the theory about it is to. A musical score is to; the sound waves it produces are suso.
Key compounds: tosu (organised knowledge, theory) · tofe (boundary of knowledge, a concept-edge) · fesu (structural threshold) · nofe (below limit, unbounded) · tonofe (omniscience)
Relations
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
ne |
relation / connection | link, bond, membership, network |
pe |
part / component | piece, element, member of a whole |
go |
cause / origin | reason, source, trigger |
du |
result / effect | outcome, product, consequence |
zi |
mutual / coupling event | bilateral transformation — both participants changed simultaneously by their engagement; mating, symbiosis |
zi vs ne: ne is a static bond; zi is a coupled event where both participants transform. zizo (biological mating/symbiosis) · negofe (independent — no dependency) · godu (causal chain)
Space and Location
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
pa |
place / space | location, region, physical topology |
di |
direction | toward, away, path, orientation |
ko |
containment / interior | inside, enclosed space, container |
Key compounds: padi (destination) · kopa (interior space, room) · dipa (path between places) · panofe (omnipresence)
Time
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
ti |
time / sequence | moment, duration, order of events |
re |
repetition / cycle | recurrence, rhythm, iteration |
Key compounds: tibe (future — time-growth) · tide (past — time-decay) · tire (schedule, recurring time) · tinofe (eternal)
Perception and Information
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
se |
perception / sense | raw sensory awareness: sight, hearing, touch |
so |
sound | acoustic signal, spoken or heard |
lu |
light / visibility | visual signal, illumination |
si |
signal / representation | any encoded information: symbol, data, language, code |
se → si → to pipeline: raw sensing → encoded signal → interpreted knowledge. These three are distinct stages.
Key compounds: soli (speaker, linguist) · simu (device that stores signals — computer, book) · lusi (visual representation, image) · tosi (knowledge-signal — question marker)
Energy and Force
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
ra |
energy / force | power, charge, capacity to cause change |
ha |
heat / thermal state | temperature, warmth, cold as matter-property |
ra vs ha: a frozen conductor carrying high current has high ra and low ha simultaneously. Cold = noha (absence of heat), not rade.
Key compounds: rakimu (engine — energy-motion-device) · havo (warm — thermal-quality) · noha (cold) · ranofe (omnipotent)
Quantity
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
nu |
quantity / number | count, measure, amount |
ru |
unity / singularity | one, individual, whole |
pu |
plurality / collective | many, group, set |
Key compounds: nuli (population) · rune (unique relation, bond) · puli (community) · nunofe (mathematical infinity)
Mind, Value, and Will
| Root | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|
vo |
value / quality | worth, evaluation, degree, intensity |
wi |
will / intention | goal, desire, purpose |
no |
negation / absence | not, lack, removal |
fa |
affective substrate | raw felt-interior state of an organism, before it resolves into a model |
fa vs se: se is outward detection (the organism registering external signals); fa is inward state (mood, arousal, felt tone). A person under anaesthesia has se blocked; fa continues as substrate. The three-stage pipeline: se → fa → to (sensing → feeling → knowing).
Key compounds: vobe (improvement) · wifi (purposeful) · noki (stop, cease) · fali (an emotional person / empathy) · vonofe (omnibenevolence)
The three-domain threshold
A concept earns a registered compound entry when it has been used naturally in at least three distinct domains (e.g. physics, biology, social context). Before that it remains a transparent compositional phrase.
New entries always go into the derived registry, never into this primitive set.
Quick-reference list
be · de · di · du · fa · fe · go · ha · ka · ki · ko · li · lu · ma · mi · mu · ne · no · nu · pa · pe · pu · ra · re · ru · se · si · so · su · ti · to · vo · wi · zi · zo
34 roots total. Each one is a CV syllable and belongs to no other tier.