Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

path

[pʰäːθ]

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.71 in modern English

Syllables: path
IPA: [pʰäːθ]

9

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.

noun

A course taken.

noun

A metaphorical course or route; progress.

noun

A method or direction of proceeding.

noun

A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.

noun

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.

noun

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).

noun

A continuous map f from the unit interval I=[0,1] to a topological space X.

Example Sentences

"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."
"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."
"the path of a meteor, of a caravan, or of a storm"
"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."
"⁠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."
"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 […]"

Etymology

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 *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs, from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s, from the root *pent- (“to pass”), but this is disputed. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Paad, Pad (“path”), West Frisian paad (“path”), Dutch pad (“path”), German Pfad (“path”), German Low German Padd (“path”), Luxembourgish Pad (“path”). Indo-Iranian cognates could be Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (paṇtā̊, “way”), Old Persian 𐎱𐎰 (p-θ /⁠paθi⁠/), Hindi पथ (path), Sanskrit पन्था (panthā, “path”). See also English find. Doublet of panth.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *pent-, path, pæþ, *paþ, *paþaz, *pántaHs

Regional Pronunciation

American English: [pʰäːθ]
British English: [pʰɑːθ]

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.

Inflected Forms

paths (plural) paths (present, singular) pathing (participle, present) pathed (participle, past) pathed (past)

Derived Forms

airpath basepath bridlepath cowpath cyberpath edgepath eigenpath flarepath flowpath halterpath heelpath hotpath

Phrases

bridle-path build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door by-path cart path cess path cross someone's path drag path garden-path

Synonyms

track trail way way of life route itinerary course

Rhymes With

math bath wrath hath mcgrath kath nath rath plath fath pathe lath

Questions

How do you pronounce path?: The recorded pronunciation is [pʰäːθ].
What does path mean?: A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
Where does path come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce path

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “path”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling ([pʰäːθ]) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “path”.
Repeat and practice — Say “path” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.