Etymologically
Log in

crossroads

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 12:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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]

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