Etymograph

English

highway

Highway comes from Old English hēahweġ ‘main road, highway’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēahweġ1‘main road’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heiȝwai1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1963highway1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English highway
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The highway to the East Coast which ran through…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēahweġWiktionary, English highway‘main road’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heiȝwaiWiktionary, English highway
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1963highwayWiktionary, English highway. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The highway to the East Coast which ran through…”

Formed from high + way

Proto-Indo-European *kewk- ‘to bend’

Proto-Germanic *hauhaz

Proto-West Germanic *hauh

Old English hēah ‘high’

Middle English high

English high

Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

Proto-Germanic *wegaz

Proto-West Germanic *weg ‘way’

Old English weġ

Middle English way

English way

Every English word from Old English hēahweġ

Today it means

noun A main public road, especially a multi-lane, high-speed thoroughfare.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “highway”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old English hēahweġ / highway

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