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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

road.

A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɾoːɖ/South-Asia/rod/Scotland/ɹod/General-American/ɹəʊd/
  1. A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane.

  2. Roads in general as a means of travel, especially by motor vehicle.

    uncountable
    We travelled to the seaside by road.
    This car really hugs the road.
  3. A physical way or route.

    dated
  4. A path chosen, as in life or career.

    figuratively
    the road to happiness; the road to success.
  5. An underground tunnel in a mine.

  6. A railroad.

    US · archaic
  7. A single railroad track (railway track).

    UK · US
  8. The act of riding on horseback.

    obsolete
  9. A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid.

    obsolete
  10. A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor; a roadstead.

    plural-normally
  11. A journey, or stage of a journey.

    obsolete
  12. A hard, flat pitch, typically favourable for batters.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English rād (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots. Cognates include West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway). The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late — Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar — and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway (“a way for riding on”) as saying way twice, in other words as a tautological compound.

adj/ɾoːɖ/South-Asia/rod/Scotland/ɹod/General-American/ɹəʊd/
  1. At the venue of the opposing team or competitor; on the road.

    Canada · US · attributive · not-comparable
  2. Of or pertaining to a road bike.

    not-comparable
    road tires
    road groupset
Where this word comes from

From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English rād (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots. Cognates include West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway). The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late — Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar — and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway (“a way for riding on”) as saying way twice, in other words as a tautological compound.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.