way

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a journey or passage

   they are on the way

2. 2
   noun

   a road or path affording passage from one place to another

   We were just looking for the way out.

3. 3
   noun

   the property of distance in general

   it's a long way to Moscow

4. 4
   noun

   doing as one pleases or chooses

   if I had my way

5. 5
   noun

   a general category of things

   used in the expression `in the way of'

6. 6
   noun

   a portion of something divided into shares

   they split the loot three ways

7. 7
   noun

   the condition of things generally

   that's the way it is

8. 8
   noun

   To do with a place or places.

   Do you know the way to the airport?  Come this way and I'll show you a shortcut.  It's a long way from here.

Etymology

From Middle English way, wey, from Old English weġ, from Proto-West Germanic *weg, from Proto-Germanic *wegaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-. Doublet of voe and possibly via. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian wai, wäi (“way”), Saterland Frisian Wai (“way”), West Frisian wei (“road; way”), Central Franconian Wääch (“way”), Cimbrian bege, bèg (“way”), Dutch weg (“way”), German, Low German Weg (“way”), Limburgish waeg (“way”), Luxembourgish Wee (“way”), Mòcheno be (“way”), Yiddish וועג (veg, “way”), Danish vej (“way”), Faroese, Icelandic vegur (“way”), Norwegian Bokmål veg, vei (“way”), Norwe…