An Alley Was Somewhere You Walked
An alley is a narrow passage. The French root means a going, and the same word gives us the aisle of a church and an avenue.
An alley is a narrow passage between buildings. The French *allée* is the past participle of *aller*, to go — an alley is literally a going, a place walked through. The same verb gives *avenue*, a coming towards, and English has built its own senses on top: a bowling alley, and the idiom *right up my alley*.
- A narrow passage. *A dark alley.*
- A bowling lane. *A ten-pin bowling alley.*
- A garden path. *A tree-lined alley.*
- Up my alley — my kind of thing. *Right up my alley.*
- Blind alley — a dead end. *A blind alley of an argument.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | alley | A back alley. |
| Plural | alleys | Narrow alleys. |
| Compound | alleyway | A damp alleyway. |
| French | aller | To go. |
| Related | avenue | A wide avenue. |
- The shop backs onto an alley.Urban.
- That job is right up my alley.American; the British say up my street.
- The investigation went down a blind alley.Figurative dead end.
Words from French aller
- Alley — a going, a walkway
- Avenue — a coming towards, originally an approach to a house
- Allez — the imperative, borrowed in fencing and cycling
- Aller-retour — a return ticket in French
- Alley and aisle are different words, despite the similar sound
Old French *alee*, a passage or going, the past participle of *aler*, to go. English has used it since the 1300s.
Is it up my alley or up my street?
Up my alley is American, up my street British. They mean the same thing.
Are alley and aisle related?
No. Aisle comes from Latin ala, a wing, referring to the side parts of a church.