street

Definition

A paved part of road, usually in a village or a town.

Etymology

From Middle English strete, from Anglian Old English strēt (“street”) (cognate West Saxon Old English strǣt) from Proto-West Germanic *strātu (“street”), an early borrowing from Late Latin (via) strāta (“paved (road)”), from Latin strātus, past participle of sternō (“stretch out, spread, bestrew with, cover, pave”), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- (“to stretch out, extend, spread”). The /aː/ vowel of the Latin form shifted by Anglo-Frisian brightening to /æː/ in West Saxon and /eː/ in Anglian Old English; these developed respectively to /ɛː/ and /eː/ in Middle English, /ɛː/ and /iː/ in Early Modern English, and finally /iː/ in Modern English by the Great Vowel Shift. The modern spelling reflects the Anglian form, as in sleep, greedy, sheep. Cognates Cognate with Scots stret, strete, streit (“street”), North Frisian Straat, stroot, struat (“street”) (North Frisian forms are borrowed from Middle Low German strâte), Saterland Frisian Sträite (“street”), West Frisian strjitte (“street”), Bavarian Stråßn (“street”), Dutch straat (“street”) (see doublet straat), German Strasse, Straße (“street”), German Low German Straat, Straote (“street”), Limburgish sjtraot, straot (“street”), Luxembourgish Strooss (“street”), Mòcheno stros (“street”), Vilamovian śtrös, štrȫs (“street”), Yiddish שטראָז (shtroz, “street”), Danish stræde (“alley, lane, narrow street”), Faroese, Icelandic stræti (“street”), Norwegian Bokmål strede (“narrow street”), Swedish stråt (“path, road, route; way, course”) (Scandinavian forms are borrowed from Old English), Portuguese estrada (“road, way, drive”), Italian strada (“road, street”). Related to Old English strēowian, strewian (“to strew, scatter”), Latin sternō, Ancient Greek στορνύναι (stornúnai). More at strew.

Example Sentences

• "Walk down the street until you see a hotel on the right."
• "The man wearing a red coat is standing on the street."
• "I live on the street down from Joyce Avenue."

Related Words