Learn English – What’s the general term for street/lane/alley/avenue etc

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Recently I was trying to explain the Dutch word gracht to a friend and I found myself needing a general word for a unit of architecture which joins two places together. I thought about "route", but for me it is a little too abstract (more of a set of directions to take than a physical entity). Is there such a word in the English language? Moreover, if we also include other, nonlinear things cities are made of (plains, squares, roundabouts — everything that has a name plate on the buildings), is there a word for that too?

Best Answer

One such word is thoroughfare.

1. A passage or way through.

a. In general sense; also fig. Now usually merged in sense 1c, exc. in phr. no thoroughfare, no public way through or right of way here.

c. A road, street, lane, or path forming a communication between two other roads or streets, or between two places; a public way unobstructed and open at both ends; esp. a main road or street, a highway.

[OED]

[Sense 1b is marked obsolete.]

The word is most often used of paved or metalled streets, rather than paths or alleys, but the OED definition does cover those and the word could be used of them.

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