path

Meaning

Noun

1. A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
2. A course taken.
3. A metaphorical course or route; progress.
4. A method or direction of proceeding.
5. A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
6. A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL.
7. A sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
8. A continuous map f from the unit interval I=[0,1] to a topological space X.
9. A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
2. (intransitive) To navigate through a file system directory tree (to a desired file or folder).
3. (intransitive) To pathfind.

Synonyms

road

🛣️

way

track

trail

route

course

pathway

street

passage

lane

alley

footpath

roadway

itinerary

channel

direction

trajectory

highway

line

method

door

🚪

avenue

orbit

walk

🚶

rut

run

manner

mean

tracks

access

circuit

way of life

walkway

foot-path

trackway

tract

steps

thoroughfare

race

footway

means

model

fairway

entrance

closed path

end

🔚

druidism

closed circuit

behavior

drive

Translations

chemin

🛣️

camino

Weg

🛣️

caminho

🛣️

sentier

🛣️

Pfad

🛣️

sentiero

🛣️

yol

🛣️

sendero

pad

🛣️

route

🛣️

senda

weg

voie

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pɑːθ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: path

Inherited from Old English: pæþ

Cognate with Western Frisian: paad

Cognate with Dutch: pad

Cognate with German: Pfad

Cognate with Ancient Greek: πατέω

Cognate with Avestan: 𐬞𐬀𐬥𐬙𐬀

Cognate with Old Persian:

Cognate with Sanskrit: पन्था

Cognate with English: find

In summary

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 *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s, from the root *pent- (“to pass”), however 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/)), Sanskrit पन्था (panthā, “path”). See also English find. Doublet of panth.

Sentences

The set of all such tangency points is called the firm's " expansion path ".