path
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɑːθ/
ipa: [pʰɑːθ]
ipa: [pʰäːθ]
ipa: [pʰɐːθ]
note: Indic
ipa: /pɑt̪ʰ/
note: Indic
ipa: [päːt̪ʰ]
ipa: /pæθ/
ipa: [pʰæθ]
ipa: [pʰɛəθ]
ipa: [pʰeəθ]
ipa: [pʰaθ]
ipa: [pʰæθ]
rhymes: -ɑːθ
rhymes: -æθ
Forms: form: paths
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Yet ere to to-morrow's ſun ſhall ſhew his head, / The dewy paths of meadows we will tread, / For crowns and chaplets to adorn thy head.
ref: a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus. From the 18th Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 412:
text: I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
examples: text: the path of a meteor, of a caravan, or of a storm
text: Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.
ref: 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
glosses: A course taken.
examples: text: ⁠But thou and I have shaken hands,
⁠Till growing winters lay me low;
⁠My paths are in the fields I know,
And thine in undiscover’d lands.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXIX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 61:
text: As I explored the possibility of a library science path, having previously been employed in libraries during my school career and afterwards, I decided that I needed to actually experience work in a library setting full time again […]
ref: 2002, Priscilla K. Shontz, Steven J. Oberg, Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science, page 21:
glosses: A metaphorical course or route; progress.
examples: text: All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 25:10:
text: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
ref: 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:
glosses: A method or direction of proceeding.
topics: lifestyle
paganism
religion
glosses: A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
examples: text: Use the network path \\Marketing\Files to find the documents you need.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: 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.
topics: graph-theory
mathematics
sciences
glosses: 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).
topics: mathematics
sciences
topology
glosses: A continuous map f from the unit interval I=[0,1] to a topological space X.
examples: text: "Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force.
ref: 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232:
text: ... while the planned hourly fast 'Connect' service from Middlesbrough to Newcastle has been postponed indefinitely due to problems in finding paths for it on the East Coast main line.
ref: 2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival: December 2019 changes”, in Modern Railways, page 78:
text: Echoing McNaughton's comments in 2009, it adds: "The WCML has exhausted its available train paths and no extra services could be run without further significant investment to enhance current infrastructure or build a new line.
ref: 2020 May 6, Philip Haigh, “Just one more stop on the long journey to HS2 fulfillment [sic]”, in Rail, page 65:
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.
Synonyms: sense: A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
word: track
word: trail
word: way
Hypernyms: sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: absolute path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: bang path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: base path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: bicycle path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: bike path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: boom path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: bridle path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: classpath
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: click path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: critical path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: cross paths
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: cycle path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: data path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: desire path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: directed path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: eightfold path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: Eulerian path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: flare path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: flight path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: footpath
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: forced path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: garden path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: glide path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: Hamiltonian path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: happy path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: herd path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: left-handed path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: left-hand path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: mean free path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: middle path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: noble eightfold path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: primrose path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: relative path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: return path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: right-handed path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: right-hand path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: sample path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: shared use path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: speech path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: spirit path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: subpath
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: swept path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: tool path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: towing path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: undirected path
sense: Hypernyms of path (noun)
word: zombie path
Derived terms: airpath
basepath
bridlepath
bridle-path
by-path
cart path
cess path
cowpath
cross someone's path
cyberpath
edgepath
eigenpath
flarepath
flowpath
garden-path
garden path sentence
garden-path sentence
halterpath
heelpath
hotpath
hyperpath
keypath
lead someone down the garden path, lead someone up the garden path
lifepath
lightpath
moonpath
multipath
null path length
off the beaten path
path analysis
pathbreaker
pathbreaking
path cascade
path-connected
path dependence
path dependency
pather
pathfind
pathfinder
pathfinding
pathful
path integral formalism
pathion
path length
pathless
pathlet
pathlike
pathline
path loss
pathmaker
pathmaster
pathname
path of least resistance
path of totality
path rush
pathside
path tracer
path tracing
path traversal
pathway
pathwidth
pathwise
pathworking
racepath
scanpath
sidepath
stormpath
superpath
thought path
thought-path
toolpath
towpath
trekpath
warpath
whale-path
which-path information