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path

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From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ (“path, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (“path”). The Proto-Germanic term is possibly borrowed from Iranian, from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s, from the root *pent- (“to pass”), however this is disputed.

• IPA^(key): /pɑːθ/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [pʰɑːθ]
  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [pʰäːθ], [pʰɐːθ]
  • (Indic) IPA^(key): /pɑt̪ʰ/, [päːt̪ʰ]
• IPA^(key): /pæθ/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [pʰæθ], [pʰɛəθ], [pʰeəθ]
  • (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): [pʰaθ], [pʰæθ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːθ, -æθ

path (plural paths)

2. A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus. From the 18th Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 412:

     Yet ere to to-morrow's ſun ſhall ſhew his head, / The dewy paths of meadows we will tread, / For crowns and chaplets to adorn thy head.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

4. A course taken.

   the path of a meteor, of a caravan, or of a storm

   • 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:

     Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.

5. A metaphorical course or route; progress.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXIX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 61:

     ⁠But thou and I have shaken hands,
     ⁠Till growing winters lay me low;
     ⁠My paths are in the fields I know,
     And thine in undiscover’d lands.

   • 2002, Priscilla K. Shontz, Steven J. Oberg, Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science, page 21:

     As I explored the possibility of a library science path, having previously been employed in libraries during my school career and afterwards, I decided that I needed to actually experience work in a library setting full time again […]

6. A method or direction of proceeding.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 25:10:

     All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.

   • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:

     The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

7. (paganism) A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
9. (computing) A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL.

   Hyponym: filepath

   Use the network path \\Marketing\Files to find the documents you need.

11. (graph theory) A sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
12. (topology) A continuous map ${\displaystyle f}$ from the unit interval ${\displaystyle I=[0,1]}$ to a topological space ${\displaystyle X}$.
13. (rail transport) A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.
    • 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232:

      "Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force.

    • 2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival: December 2019 changes”, in Modern Railways, page 78:

      ... while the planned hourly fast 'Connect' service from Middlesbrough to Newcastle has been postponed indefinitely due to problems in finding paths for it on the East Coast main line.

    • 2020 May 6, Philip Haigh, “Just one more stop on the long journey to HS2 fulfillment [sic]”, in Rail, page 65:

      Echoing McNaughton's comments in 2009, it adds: "The WCML has exhausted its available train paths and no extra services could be run without further significant investment to enhance current infrastructure or build a new line.

• (1): track, trail; see also Thesaurus:way

path (third-person singular simple present paths, present participle pathing, simple past and past participle pathed)

1. (transitive) To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
   • 1597, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “[Englands Heroicall Epistles.] Duke Humfrey to Elinor Cobham.”, in Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, published 1605, →OCLC, folio 56, verso:

     His ghoſtly counſells onely doe aduiſe, / The meanes hovv Langlies progenie may riſe, / Pathing young Henries vnaduiſed vvaies, / A Duke of Yorke from Cambridge houſe to raiſe, […]

2. (computing, intransitive) To navigate through a file system directory tree (to a desired file or folder).

   Next, you need to path to the location of the executable and run it from there.

3. (video games, intransitive) To pathfind.

Shortening.

path (uncountable)

1. (medicine, abbreviation) Pathology.

• Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; June 2005]
• “path”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• Anatoly Liberman (4 November 2015), “The Oxford Etymologist”, in OUPblog‎^[1], Oxford University Press, archived from the original on 23 November 2024, Pathfinders

• Ptah, phat

Inherited from Old English pæþ, from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz, from an Iranian language, from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs.

The spellings paath and pathe and Scots paith prove that a pronunciation of this word with /aː/ existed; it presumably originated from open-syllable lengthening in inflected forms.

• paath, paaþ, pathe, paththe, paþ, paþþe
• pað, peþ (Early Middle English)

• IPA^(key): /paθ/, /paːθ/
• (early, dialectal) IPA^(key): /pɛθ/
• Rhymes: -aθ

path (plural pathes)

1. An informal or unpaved path or trail; a track.
2. A choice or way of living; a doctrine.
3. (rare, Late Middle English) A course or route.
4. (rare, Late Middle English) A vessel or vein.

• bypath
• pathen
• pathynge

• English: path
• Scots: peth, paith

• “pā̆th, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 8 August 2018.

path

1. alternative form of pathen