pathway English · revision 39774

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=a1450, Chronicle of Repton}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈpɑːθˌweɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈpæθˌweɪ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed [[af|en|path|way]] in English.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(Johnson 1755) Etymonline calls it an etymological tautology, since both elements mean a way.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A way that serves as a path, a track, or the route a person takes: a1450, in a chronicle of Repton in Derbyshire,^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) though Etymonline dates the word to the 1530s, the Shorter Oxford to the mid-16th century and Dictionary.com to 1530–40.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(Dictionary.com 2016) Merriam-Webster gives the 15th century.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A figurative use, a means of reaching a goal or the course of a life, is recorded from about 1536, in the title of William Tyndale's ''Pathway into the Holy Scripture''.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined the word as a road, strictly a narrow way travelled on foot, quoting Shakespeare and the Proverbs.^(Johnson 1755) In the 19th and 20th centuries the sciences took it up: the physical route by which something passes (1839), the route of a nerve impulse through the nervous system (1860),^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) a sequence of changes in a natural process (1891), and in biochemistry a chain of reactions, usually catalysed by enzymes, that a compound undergoes in a living organism (1905).^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)^(SOED 2002) From 1916 it has also meant a series of steps by which a process is carried out, chiefly in medicine and education,^(OED 2026) and Collins records the British educational sense of the courses a student takes towards a qualification.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1450 – a path or track; the route a person takes.^(OED 2026)

+ * ?1536 – figurative, a means of reaching a goal.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1839 – the physical route by which something passes.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1860 – (physiology) the route of a nerve impulse.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1891 – a sequence of changes in a natural process.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1905 – (biochemistry) a chain of reactions in an organism.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1916 – a series of steps by which a process is carried out.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[path]] or [[track]]: ''A gravel pathway led down to the lake.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A way of reaching or achieving something; a [[course]] of action: ''Training offered a pathway into skilled work.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (education) The courses a student takes to qualify for a higher course or a final qualification.^(Collins 2023)

+ # (biochemistry) A chain of [[enzyme]]-catalysed reactions forming part of a [[metabolic]] process.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (physiology) A chain of [[nerve]] cells along which impulses of a particular kind travel.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pathwayed]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[path]]

+ * [[way]]

+ * [[footpath]]

+ * [[walkway]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}