Etymologically
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detour

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈdi.toɹ/[1]

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]

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