crossroads

Etymology

It is the plural of crossroad,^[1][2] which is formed from English cross + road.^[2][3] It is usually treated as a singular.^[2][3][4] Etymonline notes that Middle English had way-lete for a place where roads meet, from Old English weg-gelæte.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A point where two or more courses of action divide; a critical turning point: 1795, in Pratt's Gleanings through Wales.^[2][1] The plural in the literal sense, the place where roads cross, follows in 1797.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The singular crossroad first meant a road crossing another or linking two main roads (1655), and then the place where roads cross (1673).^[2] In the plural, the figurative turning point is recorded slightly before the literal meeting of roads,^[1][2] although Etymonline dates the figurative use of the singular to 1733.^[1] From 1788 the plural also meant a real or symbolic meeting point of places or powers.^[2] In the United States it was used by 1845 for a small settlement at a road junction,^[1][5] and the Shorter Oxford records an American attributive use for something small or cheap.^[3] Crossroads were the usual burial place of suicides, whom English law required to be buried in the highway until 1823, often with a stake through the body; folklore held them to be uncanny places, used too in charms against warts and ague.^[6][1] In American drug slang crossroads were amphetamine tablets, perhaps from the cross marked on them (1969).^[7]

Timeline

• 1655 – crossroad, a road crossing another.^[2]
• 1673 – crossroad, the place where roads cross.^[2]
• 1788 – plural, a meeting point of places or powers.^[2]
• 1795 – plural, a critical turning point.^[2][1]
• 1797 – plural, the place where roads cross.^[2]
• 1845 – in the US, a small settlement at a road junction.^[1]
• 1969 – drug slang, amphetamine.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place where two or more roads cross; an intersection: Turn left at the next crossroads.^[4][5][2]
2. A point at which an important choice must be made, especially in at a crossroads: The company is at a crossroads.^[4][2]
3. A place where different peoples, cultures or routes meet.^[2]
4. (US) A small community that has grown up at a road junction.^[5][1]

Related words

• crossroad
• cross
• road
• crossway

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2000), A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com