Link Centre Dictionary

path

UK/pɑːθ/ US/pʰɑːθ/ common

noun

1.

a course of conduct

  • “the path of virtue”
  • “we went our separate ways”
  • “our paths in life led us apart”
  • “genius usually follows a revolutionary path”
Synonyms
2.
3.
4.

a line or route along which something travels or moves

  • “the hurricane demolished houses in its path”
  • “the track of an animal”
  • “the course of the river”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ (“path, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (“path”). The Proto-Germanic term is possibly borrowed from Iranian, from Proto-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s, from the root *pent- (“to pass”), but this is disputed. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Paad, Pad (“path”), West Frisian paad (“path”), Dutch pad (“path”), German Pfad (“path”), German Low German Padd (“path”), Luxembourgish Pad (“path”). Indo-Iranian cognates could be Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (paṇtā̊, “way”), Old Persian 𐎱𐎰 (p-θ /⁠paθi⁠/), Hindi पथ (path), Sanskrit पन्था (panthā, “path”). See also English find. Doublet of panth.

Phrases

  • build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door
  • cart path
  • cess path
  • cross someone's path
  • drag path
  • garden path sentence
  • garden-path sentence
  • lead someone down the garden path, lead someone up the garden path

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.