way

way · noun, interjection, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*weǵʰ-
2. Proto-Germanic*wegaz
3. Proto-West Germanic*weg
4. Old Englishweġ
5. Middle Englishwey
6. English todayway

From Middle English way, wey, from Old English weġ, from Proto-West Germanic *weg, from Proto-Germanic *wegaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-. Doublet of voe and possibly via. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian wai, wäi (“way”), Saterland Frisian Wai (“way”), West Frisian wei (“road; way”), Central Franconian Wääch (“way”), Cimbrian bege, bèg (“way”), Dutch weg (“way”), German, Low German Weg (“way”), Limburgish waeg (“way”), Luxembourgish Wee (“way”), Mòcheno be (“way”), Yiddish וועג (veg, “way”), Danish vej (“way”), Faroese and Icelandic vegur (“way”), Norwegian Bokmål veg, vei (“way”), Norwegian Nynorsk veg (“way”), Swedish väg (“way”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍃 (wigs, “path; road”).

way · adverb, adjective, noun²

Apheresis of away.

way · noun³

From the sound it represents, by analogy with other (velar) letters such as kay and gay.

Way · proper noun⁴

1. Chinese · semantic loan from道
2. Ancient Greek · semantic loan fromὁδός
3. English todayWay

From specific instances of way. In Christian contexts, a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós) used with that meaning in the Acts of the Apostles (for example, Acts 9:2). In Chinese contexts, a semantic loan from Chinese 道 (Dào).

Words from the same roots