From Middle English rode, rade, from Old English rād, from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō, from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ-.

The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late—Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar—and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway "a way for riding on" as saying "way" twice, in other words as a tautological compound.

• (RP) enPR: rōd, IPA: /ɹəʊd/
• (America) enPR: rōd, IPA: /ɹoʊd/
• (Scotland) IPA: /rod/

road (plural roads)

1. A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane. [from 16th c.]
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     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.

2. (uncountable) Roads in general as a means of travel, especially by motor vehicle.

   We travelled to the seaside by road.

3. (dated) A physical way or route.
   • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC ↗:

     He stirred up his hair with his sprightliest expression, glanced at the little figure again, said ‘Good evening, ma ‘am; don’t come down, Mrs Affery, I know the road to the door,’ and steamed out.

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC ↗, page 131:

     Hetty and Mrs. Piper watched them with a lynx-eyed understanding and before the ancient was well upon his road his way was blocked by Hetty.

4. (figuratively) A path chosen, as in life or career. [from 17th c.]

   the road to happiness; the road to success.

   • 1964, Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing:

     Where, then, is the road to peace?

5. An underground tunnel in a mine. [from 18th c.]
6. (US, railroads) A railway or (UK, railroads) a single railway track. [from 19th c.]
7. (obsolete) The act of riding on horseback. [9th]
8. (obsolete) A hostile ride against a particular area; a raid. [9th]
9. (nautical, often, in the plural) A partly sheltered area of water near a shore in which vessels may ride at anchor; a roadstead. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

     Antonio: Sweet lady, you have given me life and living; / For here I read for certain that my ships / Are safely come to road.

10. (obsolete) A journey, or stage of a journey.
    • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

      At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester; / Lodg'd in the abbey, where the reverend abbot, / With all his convent, honourably receiv'd him; […]

• French: route
• German: Straße
• Italian: strada
• Portuguese: estrada, caminho, via
• Russian: доро́га
• Spanish: camino, calle, ruta, carretera

• French: chemin, route
• Portuguese: caminho
• Russian: путь
• Spanish: camino

road (not comparable)

1. (US, Canada, sports, chiefly, attributive) At the venue of the opposing team or competitor; on the road.
2. (cycling) Of or pertaining to a road bike.

   road tires

   road groupset

• (at the venue of the opposing team or competitor) away (UK)