"Way" meaning in English

See Way in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Etymology: From specific instances of way. In Christian contexts, a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós) used with that meaning in the Acts of the Apostles (for example, Acts 9:2). In Chinese contexts, a semantic loan from Chinese 道 (Dào). Etymology templates: {{semantic loan|en|grc|ὁδός|nocap=1}} semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós), {{semantic loan|en|zh|道|nocap=1|tr=Dào}} semantic loan from Chinese 道 (Dào) Head templates: {{en-proper noun}} Way
  1. (Christianity, with the definite article) Christianity.
    Sense id: en-Way-en-name-bRYeL0EH Categories (other): Christianity Topics: Christianity
  2. (Chinese philosophy, with the definite article) Synonym of Tao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way in which to live one's life. Tags: Chinese Synonyms: Tao [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-Way-en-name-EsUTrnK2 Categories (other): Philosophy Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences
  3. (Sussex, with the definite article) Clipping of South Downs Way. Tags: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping Alternative form of: South Downs Way
    Sense id: en-Way-en-name-Pb-YFA3J Categories (other): English links with redundant alt parameters, English links with redundant wikilinks, Sussex English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 2 21 41 1 26 9 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 20 40 5 25 8 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 2 18 45 4 24 7
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Proper name

Head templates: {{en-proper noun}} Way
  1. A surname.
    Sense id: en-Way-en-name-EMUC1F3L Categories (other): English surnames
  2. An unincorporated community in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. Categories (place): Places in Mississippi, USA, Places in the United States, Unincorporated communities in Mississippi, USA
    Sense id: en-Way-en-name-i1jtUtfJ
  3. A hamlet in Minster parish, Thanet district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR3265). Categories (place): Places in England, Places in Kent, England, Villages in England, Villages in Kent, England
    Sense id: en-Way-en-name-zlxCdctD
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: Waycest
Etymology number: 2
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        "1": "en",
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      "name": "semantic loan"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "道",
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  "pos": "name",
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              198,
              205
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          ],
          "ref": "1946, The Bible, Revised Standard Version, Acts 9:1-2:",
          "text": "But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.",
          "type": "quote"
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      ],
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        "with the definite article"
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          "tags": [
            "synonym",
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        "human-sciences",
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    },
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "South Downs Way"
        }
      ],
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          "name": "English links with redundant alt parameters",
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          "name": "English links with redundant wikilinks",
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Sussex English",
          "parents": [],
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        },
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          "_dis": "2 21 41 1 26 9",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "2 20 40 5 25 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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          "_dis": "2 18 45 4 24 7",
          "kind": "other",
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              24,
              27
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          ],
          "text": "We're walking along the Way now.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
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        "Clipping of South Downs Way."
      ],
      "id": "en-Way-en-name-Pb-YFA3J",
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          "w:South Downs Way"
        ]
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        "(Sussex, with the definite article) Clipping of South Downs Way."
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        "with the definite article"
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        "abbreviation",
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        "clipping"
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  ],
  "word": "Way"
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  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
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      ],
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    {
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          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Places in Mississippi, USA",
          "orig": "en:Places in Mississippi, USA",
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      ],
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        "An unincorporated community in Madison County, Mississippi, United States."
      ],
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          "Madison County",
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        ],
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        ],
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          "orig": "en:Villages in England",
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      "glosses": [
        "A hamlet in Minster parish, Thanet district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR3265)."
      ],
      "id": "en-Way-en-name-zlxCdctD",
      "links": [
        [
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          "Minster",
          "Minster#English"
        ],
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        ],
        [
          "Kent",
          "Kent#English"
        ],
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          "England",
          "England#English"
        ],
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          "OS",
          "OS"
        ],
        [
          "List of United Kingdom locations: Wam-Way",
          "w:List of United Kingdom locations: Wam-Way#Wat–Waz"
        ]
      ]
    }
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  "word": "Way"
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    "English terms derived from Chinese",
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  "etymology_text": "From specific instances of way. In Christian contexts, a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós) used with that meaning in the Acts of the Apostles (for example, Acts 9:2). In Chinese contexts, a semantic loan from Chinese 道 (Dào).",
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        "(Chinese philosophy, with the definite article) Synonym of Tao: the way of nature and/or the ideal way in which to live one's life."
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          "text": "We're walking along the Way now.",
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        "(Sussex, with the definite article) Clipping of South Downs Way."
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      ]
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  ],
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  "word": "Way"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Way meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (6fdc867 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.