Road Meant a Journey on Horseback
A road is a prepared way for travel. The word originally meant riding, not the surface.
A road is a prepared way for travelling between places. The word is from Old English *rad*, a riding or journey on horseback, the same root as *ride* — it named the act of travelling before it named the thing travelled on, and the modern sense only becomes common in the 1500s. That older meaning survives in *inroads*, originally hostile raids, and in *roadstead*, a sheltered anchorage where ships ride at anchor.
- A way for travel. *A country road.*
- A journey (archaic). *A road.*
- An anchorage. *A roadstead.*
- Inroads. *Making inroads.*
- Old English — *rad*, a riding. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | road | A road. |
| Plural | roads | Roads. |
| Compound | roadstead | A roadstead. |
| Compound | inroads | Inroads. |
| Related | ride | To ride. |
- The road ran north.Way.
- Ships lay in the roads.Anchorage.
- Making inroads into the market.Idiom.
Road words and their origins
- Road — from riding
- Street — from Latin *strata*, a paved way
- Avenue — French, an approach
- Boulevard — from a Dutch word for a rampart
- Highway — an elevated or principal way
Old English *rad*, a riding or journey, from the same root as *ride*.
Did road always mean a surface?
No. It meant a journey on horseback, and only came to mean the way travelled on in the 1500s.
What is a roadstead?
A sheltered stretch of water where ships can ride at anchor, keeping the old sense of riding.