Etymologically
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gateway

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡeɪtˌweɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English gate + way.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A passage that is or may be closed by a gate, an opening in a fence or wall: 1707, in Mortimer's book on husbandry.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) explained gateways as ways through the gates of enclosed fields, quoting Mortimer on how muddy they got.[6] By 1782 the word also meant the frame or arch in which a gate hangs, or a building over a gate.[2] The figurative sense, a way in or out, is recorded from Tennyson's Locksley Hall (1842).[2][3] In the United States it came to mean a city or point through which traffic enters a region.[5] In computing, from 1974, a gateway is a device that connects separate networks or systems,[2] and a verb to gateway followed in 1983.[2]

Timeline

  • 1707 – a passage closed by a gate.[2][3]
  • 1782 – a frame or arch in which a gate hangs.[2]
  • 1842 – figurative: a means of entry or exit.[2][3]
  • 1974 – computing: a device linking networks.[2]
  • 1983 – verb: to connect by a gateway.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An opening in a wall or fence that can be closed by a gate; also the structure framing it.
  2. A means of access or entry: the town is the gateway to the national park.
  3. (computing) A device or program that connects two networks using different protocols.

Word family

  • gateway drug

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.