Etymologically
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pave

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English paven,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman paver, also pavier,[5][6] and Old French paver,[5][2][7][3] from Latin paviō (“to beat, ram down, tread down”).[5][7][3] Dictionary.com and Etymonline put a Vulgar Latin *pavō between the Latin and the French verb.[4][2] Hoad, Weekley and the Shorter Oxford take the French verb as probably a back-formation from pavement,[8][9][10] from pavīmentum (“beaten or rammed floor”),[8] and Barnhart thinks the English verb may also in some cases be a back-formation from the earlier pavement.[3] The OED calls the Latin verb of unknown origin,[5] but Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace it to Proto-Indo-European *pau- (“to cut, strike, stamp”),[2][7] and Merriam-Webster compares putō (“to prune; to think”) and Ancient Greek παίω (paíō, “to strike”).[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To lay a road or floor with stones, tiles or other hard material: before 1350 in the OED,[5] about 1325 in Barnhart[3] and the early 14th century in Etymonline.[2] The OED notes that the Cheshire field name Le pauedelake, of 1313, probably implies the word slightly earlier.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Chaucer's Romaunt of the Rose (before 1425) the verb already meant to cover something completely, as if with a pavement,[5] and Lydgate (before 1475) has streets paved with gold.[5] From about 1537 it was also said of the material that forms a pavement.[5] The figurative phrase pave the way, to prepare the way for something to come, is recorded from about 1585;[5][3][2] Weekley thought it first meant to make a beaten track.[9] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to lay with brick or stone, and to make a passage easy.[12] In 19th-century school slang to pave a Latin or Greek text was to write a translation between its lines or in its margins.[5][13] The noun pave, a pavement, chiefly American, is recorded from 1835, partly from the verb and partly shortened from pavement.[5][10]

Timeline

  • 1313 – implied in the Cheshire field name Le pauedelake.[5]
  • before 1350 – to lay paving on a road or floor.[5] Barnhart dates it to about 1325.[3]
  • before 1425 – to cover completely, as with a pavement, in Chaucer.[5]
  • before 1475 – paved with gold, in Lydgate.[5]
  • c. 1537 – of a material, to form a pavement over a surface.[5]
  • c. 1585 – pave the way, to prepare the way for something.[5][3]
  • 1635 – to make a part of the body hard like a pavement (obsolete by 1738).[5]
  • 1835 – noun, a pavement, chiefly American.[5][10]
  • 1877 – school slang, to write a crib into a Latin or Greek text.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cover a road, path or floor with a firm, level surface of stones, bricks, asphalt or concrete: The council paved the lane last summer.[14][11][5]
  2. Of a material, to form the surface of something.[14][5]
  3. To cover something completely, as if with a pavement: a hall paved with marble.[14][5]
  4. pave the way: to prepare for something, or make it easier: The treaty paved the way for open trade.[14][5]

Noun

  1. (chiefly US) A pavement or paved road.[10][5][11]

Word family

  • paviour
  • putative

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins