Meanings
plural viaducts
- transportA bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley or other obstacles.
The L.C.C. [London County Council] considers viaducts in London objectionable and a hindrance to town planning and would like to abolish all the Southern Railway lines on viaducts in South London. [Nothing much happened, they still exist.]
1944 January and February, C. F. Cobon, “The County of London Plan”, in Railway Magazine, page 241 more example
[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
Origin
- Latinvia“highway; road”
- Englishviaduct
Coined in 1816, from Latin via (“highway; road”) + English -duct, on the basis of aqueduct.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque zubibide
- zubibidebridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Bulgarian виаду́кт
- виаду́кт (viadúkt)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Catalan viaducte
- viaductebridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Chinese Mandarin 高架橋 /高架桥
- 高架橋 /高架桥 (gāojiàqiáo)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Czech viadukt
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Danish viadukt
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Dutch viaduct
- viaductbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Esperanto viadukto
- viaduktobridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Estonian viadukt
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Finnish maasilta
- maasiltabridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
French viaduc
- viaducbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
German Viadukt
- Viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Hungarian viadukt, völgyhíd
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
- völgyhídbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Icelandic dalbrú
- dalbrúbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Italian viadotto, cavalcavia
- viadottobridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
- cavalcaviabridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Japanese ガード, 高架橋
- ガード (gādo)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
- 高架橋 (kōkakyō)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
- 陸橋 (rikkyou)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Korean 고가교
- 고가교 (gogagyo)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Norwegian Bokmål viadukt
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Persian ویادوک
- ویادوک (viyâduk)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Polish wiadukt
- wiaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Portuguese viaduto
- viadutobridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Russian виаду́к
- виаду́к (viadúk)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Slovak viadukt
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Spanish viaducto
- viaductobridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Swedish viadukt
- viaduktbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Tagalog biyadukto
- biyaduktobridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Turkish viyadük
- viyadükbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Ukrainian віаду́к
- віаду́к (viadúk)bridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Vietnamese cầu cạn
- cầu cạnbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Welsh traphont
- traphontbridge with several spans that carries rail or road traffic over a valley, etc.
Cite this entry
viaduct. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viaduct
“viaduct.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viaduct. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “viaduct,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viaduct.
Source: viaduct on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.