Etymology
1. O.E.
weg "road, path, course of travel," from P.Gmc.
*wegaz (cf. O.S., Du.
weg, O.N.
vegr, O.Fris.
wei, O.H.G.
weg, Ger.
Weg, Goth.
wigs "way"), from PIE
*wegh- "to move" (see weigh). Most of the extended senses developed in M.E. Adj. meaning "very, extremely" is early 1980s, perhaps from phrase
all the way.
Wayfaring is O.E.
wegfarende; Ways and means "resources at a person's disposal" is attested from c.1430.
Way-out (adj.) "original, bold," is jazz slang, first recorded 1940s.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *wegaz
5. Proto-West Germanic *weg
6. Old English weġ
7. Middle English wey
8. English way
9. From Middle English way, wey, from Old English weġ, from Proto-West Germanic *weg, from Proto-Germanic *wegaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-. Doublet of voe and possibly via.
10. Cognates
11. Cognate with North Frisian wai, wäi (“way”), Saterland Frisian Wai (“way”), West Frisian wei (“road; way”), Central Franconian Wääch (“way”), Cimbrian bege, bèg (“way”), Dutch weg (“way”), German, Low German Weg (“way”), Limburgish waeg (“way”), Luxembourgish Wee (“way”), Mòcheno be (“way”), Yiddish וועג (veg, “way”), Danish vej (“way”), Faroese and Icelandic vegur (“way”), Norwegian Bokmål veg, vei (“way”), Norwegian Nynorsk veg (“way”), Swedish väg (“way”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍃 (wigs, “path; road”).
Verbs referencing "way"
English
wag.