Etymologically
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motorway

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈməʊtəweɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English motor + way.[2][3][4][5] motor is from Latin mōtor (“mover”), an agent noun from moveō (“to move”),[3][2][6] and way is from Old English weg (“track, path”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A road or route for motor cars: 1897, in A. K. Owen's Guernsey Market House Plan.[2][7] Etymonline gives 1903 and notes that the earliest uses described roads that did not yet exist.[3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense of a road for motor vehicles, the first recorded, is now rare.[2] From 1906 the word was used for a dual carriageway with several lanes each way, built for fast long-distance traffic,[2] and according to Etymonline such roads became a reality only in the 1930s.[3] It remains chiefly British: American English says superhighway, and Canadian English also expressway.[8][7][9] In skiing slang a motorway is a broad, easy piste, recorded from 1979.[2][10]

Timeline

  • 1897 – a road or route for motor cars.[2][7]
  • 1903 – first date in Etymonline and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate.[3][9]
  • 1906 – a dual carriageway for fast long-distance traffic.[2]
  • 1979 – skiing, an easy piste.[2]
  • 1982 – in the Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, a broad, easy piste.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly British) A main road for fast traffic, with limited access, separate carriageways for each direction and usually two or more lanes in each: The lorry broke down on the motorway near Leeds.[8][2][4][7]
  2. (skiing, slang) A broad, easy piste.[2][10]

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 f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge