Walkway

How to spell walkway

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce walkway

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does walkway mean?

1. nounA path or raised passage built for people to walk along.

Walkway in a sentence

• A covered walkway connects the two office buildings.

• Gardeners laid a stone walkway between the flower beds.

Where does walkway come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound formed from two very old native words. 'Walk' descends from the Old English 'wealcan', which originally meant 'to roll, toss, or move about', and only later narrowed to the sense of travelling on foot. 'Way' comes from the Old English 'weg', meaning a path, road, or course of travel, a word with deep Germanic roots shared with the Dutch 'weg' and German 'Weg'. The two were joined to name a path specifically built for people on foot, a usage that became common in the nineteenth century as towns and gardens were laid out with paved pedestrian routes. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the spelling is simply the two stitched together, with no hidden letters or silent surprises.

How the word is built

• walk (to travel on foot)
• way (path or route)