roadway

Etymology

It is formed from English road + way.^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline suggests that the compound may preserve something of the older sense of road, "a riding".^[3] The OED notes a possible earlier record in the Middle English compound radewey-stile, found once in 1300, but thinks it more likely reflects a form of red.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A way used as a road, a highway: Merriam-Webster dates it to 1598,^[6] the OED to 1600, in Pory's translation of Leo Africanus.^[2] Shakespeare used it figuratively in the same year, in Henry IV, Part 2.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, a way used as a road, was soon extended to a course over the sea (before 1608).^[2] From 1750 the word was used of the main or central part of a road, the part meant for vehicles as opposed to the edges, pavement or verge;^[2][3] the Shorter Oxford notes that the first sense is passing into this one.^[4] It was applied to the part of a bridge used by traffic from 1798, to the bed or track of a railway from 1813,^[2][6] and in mining to a roughly horizontal passage in a mine from 1832.^[2]

Timeline

• 1598 – a road, a highway.^[6]
• 1600 – a way used as a road, literal and figurative.^[2]
• before 1608 – a course over the sea.^[2]
• 1750 – the part of a road meant for vehicles.^[2]
• 1798 – the part of a bridge used by traffic.^[2]
• 1813 – the bed or track of a railway.^[2]
• 1832 – in mining, a horizontal passage in a mine.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A road, or its surface.^[7][6]
2. The part of a road used by vehicles, as distinct from the pavement or sidewalk: The cyclist kept to the edge of the roadway.^[7][6][2]
3. The part of a bridge used by traffic.^[6][2]
4. The strip of land on which a road is built.^[6]
5. The right of way of a railroad, with its track; the bed on which the track is laid.^[6][2]
6. (mining) A roughly horizontal passage in a mine.^[2]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins