detour

Etymology

It is borrowed from French détour (“change of direction”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} earlier Old French destor or destour (“side road, byway; evasion, excuse”),^[3][2][4][7] from destorner (“to turn aside, divert”), now détourner,^[2][3][7][8] formed with des- (“aside”), from Latin dis-, and torner (“to turn”).^[3][4][2][9] It is related to turn and tour.^[3][9][10] Etymonline notes that English treated it as a French word, with italics and the accent, until the late 19th century,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford still records the spelling détour.^[6] The verb is from the noun.^[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A turning away from the direct road; a roundabout way or course: 1738, in Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses.^[2][4][3] In the 18th century it was mostly used figuratively.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From a figurative roundabout course or proceeding, the noun came to be used mainly of journeys, and the Shorter Oxford also gives the sense "a digression".^[2][3][6] Merriam-Webster adds the specific sense of a road that temporarily replaces part of a route,^[7] for which British English also says diversion.^[11] The verb came in the 19th century: intransitive "to make a detour" from 1836,^[2][4][7] or 1835 in Etymonline;^[3] transitive "to send by a detour" in American use from 1905 in the OED and 1897 in Etymonline;^[2][3] and "to go round, bypass" from 1941.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1738 – noun, a roundabout way or course, at first mostly figurative.^[2][3][4]
• 1836 – verb, to make a detour.^[2][4][7] Etymonline dates it to 1835.^[3]
• 1905 – to send someone or something by a detour, in American use.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1897.^[3]
• 1941 – to make a detour round; to bypass.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deviation from a direct or usual route or course of action; a roundabout way: We made a detour through the hills to see the lake.^[11][7][2]
2. A road used for a time in place of a closed part of a route; a diversion.^[7][11]
3. A digression.^[6]

Verb

1. To go by a roundabout route: The cyclists detoured round the flooded lane.^[7][2][11]
2. To send by a roundabout route: Lorries were detoured away from the town centre.^[7][2][6]
3. To go round; to bypass.^[7][2][6]

Related words

• turn
• tour

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins