Three consonants hold one idea: laying the foundation on which everything else stands. The verb sets the first stone; the nouns name what that first stone becomes, the foundation itself, the act of founding, or the institution that grows on it. Learn the root once and the whole family follows. Every word here is verified against pealim, niqqud included.
The same root runs through the verb system. Each binyan is a voice: it bends the one idea into active, passive, causative or reciprocal. Tap to hear.
Pa'al and pi'el both mean "to found" here, with pi'el leaning toward formally establishing an institution. The nif'al supplies the passive ("to be founded"); the causative hif'il and the passives pu'al and huf'al are not lexicalized for this root.
Same root letters, different noun moulds (mishkalim). The mould tells you the function: who does it, the act of doing it, or the thing produced.
Strip the prefixes, suffixes and vowels. Three consonants remain, and the meaning lives there.