boardwalk

Etymology

It is formed from English board + walk, the first element in its sense of a flat, thin piece of sawn timber.^[2][3][4] It arose in American English.^[3][4] The first element is from Old English bord (“plank, flat surface”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A footway made of boards: 1836, in the Examiner & Herald of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1839,^[5] Etymonline to 1864,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1870–75.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The boardwalk as a seaside attraction, a promenade of planks along the beach, is recorded from 1881, first of the one at Atlantic City, New Jersey.^[3] The word is chiefly American and Canadian in this sense.^[6] By the 21st century boardwalk was also used for waterfront walkways of other materials: in 2011 Grammarphobia discussed a New York parks commissioner who called a concrete boardwalk at Coney Island an "oxymoron" while arguing that the word had become a generic term.^[7]

Timeline

• 1836 – a footway or path made of boards.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1839, and Etymonline to 1864.^[5][3]
• 1881 – a seaside promenade, first at Atlantic City, New Jersey.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A walkway of planks, often slightly raised, over sand, marsh or wet or slippery ground: A boardwalk led across the bog to the hide.^[5][8][2]
2. (chiefly US, Canada) A promenade along a beach or waterfront, usually made of planks.^[6][5][8]

Usage notes

Grammarphobia argued that a "concrete boardwalk" may be a misnomer but is not an oxymoron, since wood and concrete are different materials, not opposites.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Is a “concrete boardwalk” an oxymoron?", 22 July 2011
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin