Thoroughfare is a compound of thorough (originally a variant of through) + fare ('a going, passage'), from Old English thurh-faru ('a passage through'). Important recorded forms include thurh (Old English) and faru (Old English). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The semantic development is already visible in the history: an older concrete or specialized use was extended into the modern meaning rather than replaced by a separate origin. In current use it covers a main road or public passage through a place. The wider family includes related words such as thorough, fare, wayfare, and seafarer.