path

Meanings

Noun

• A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
• A course taken.
• A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
• A metaphorical course or route; progress.
• A method or direction of proceeding.
• 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.
• 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).
• A continuous map $f$ from the unit interval $I\; =\; [0,1]$ to a topological space $X$.
• A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.
• Pathology.

Verb

• To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
• To navigate through a file system directory tree (to a desired file or folder).

Related

Broader meaning words

• bridle path
• cross paths
• cycle path
• footpath
• subpath

Origin

• From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ ("path, track"), from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz ("path") (compare West Frisian paad, Dutch pad, German Pfad), Ancient Greek πατέω / πάτος, from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬥𐬙𐬀, 𐬞𐬀𐬚𐬀, Old Persian), from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs (compare Sanskrit पथिन्), from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s, from *pent- (compare English find). panth.
• Shortening.