What does "root html" mean in nginx config?

I saw these lines:

  location = /config.json {
    return 404;
  }

  location = /config.js {
    return 404;
  }

  location /.git {
    return 404;
  }


  location = /50x.html {
    root   html;
  }

I understand the first 3 rules are to forbid users to access the sensitive files but what does the last rule mean? What is root html ?

I am new to nginx, can somebody explain?

nginx -V output:

➜  ~ nginx -V
nginx version: nginx/1.14.0 (Ubuntu)
built with OpenSSL 1.1.1  11 Sep 2018
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --with-cc-opt='-g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/nginx-H4cN7P/nginx-1.14.0=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' --with-ld-opt='-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fPIC' --prefix=/usr/share/nginx --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --lock-path=/var/lock/nginx.lock --pid-path=/run/nginx.pid --modules-path=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/body --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/fastcgi --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/proxy --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/scgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/uwsgi --with-debug --with-pcre-jit --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_v2_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_slice_module --with-threads --with-http_addition_module --with-http_geoip_module=dynamic --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_image_filter_module=dynamic --with-http_sub_module --with-http_xslt_module=dynamic --with-stream=dynamic --with-stream_ssl_module --with-mail=dynamic --with-mail_ssl_module

root html defines the relative path, relative to the value of --prefix in Nginx configuration. In your case, the value of --prefix is /usr/share/nginx. So, root html means, the directory named "html" inside /usr/share/nginx is parsed to serve the requested file (50x.html). In the end, the request will look for the file at /usr/share/nginx/html/50x.html.

root html is also the default value when no root is defined in a Nginx configuration.

For more info, please see... https://nginx.org/r/root.