Path Definition

Contents

• 1 English
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Noun
    • 1.3.1 Synonyms
    • 1.3.2 Derived terms
    • 1.3.3 Translations
  • 1.4 References
  • 1.5 Anagrams

English

Etymology

Old English pæþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (compare West Frisian paad, Dutch pad, German Pfad), from Scytho-Sarmatian (compare Avestan pɑntɑ, gen. pɑθɑ 'way', Old Persian pɑthi-), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (compare English find). More at find.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /pæθ/
• (UK) IPA: /pɑːθ/, /pæθ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːθ

Noun

path (plural paths)

1. a trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
2. a course taken.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     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.

3. (paganism) A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
4. a metaphorical course.
5. a method or direction of proceeding.
6. (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).
7. (topology) a continuous map f from the unit interval I = [0,1] to a topological space X.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• cross paths
• pathway
• footpath
• path of least resistance

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, (DRAFT REVISION June 2005)

Anagrams

• phat
• Ptah

Related 'Path' Searches: