railway

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈreɪl.weɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of rail and way.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A road laid with rails, originally of wood, on which wagons could run more easily: 1776 in the OED and Etymonline.^[4][2] MWU dates its first known use to 1681.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a track of iron or steel rails on which trains run, is from 1812.^[4][2] Compounds such as railway accident and railway station are from 1837,^[4] and the verb, to travel by rail, from 1839.^[4] It is chiefly British.^[5]

Timeline

• 1681 – first known use.^[3]
• 1776 – a road laid with rails.^[4][2]
• 1812 – a railway for trains.^[4][2]
• 1839 – verb, to travel by rail.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (chiefly British) A track of rails on which trains run.
2. A system of such tracks, with its trains, stations and organization.
3. A track for wheeled equipment, as in a factory.

Word family

• railwayed
• railwayless
• interrailway
• prerailway
• aerial railway
• elevated railway
• street railway

Related words

• rail
• way
• railroad

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press