A small road or path that is not the main route; a less-traveled way to get from one place to another.
Compound of 'by-' (Old English 'bi', meaning beside or near) and 'way' (Old English 'weg'). The term evolved to mean paths that run alongside or as alternatives to main routes.
Americans still use 'byway' for scenic routes, but it comes from medieval English when there literally weren't main roads—most paths were byways! The term preserves a memory of when all travel was secondary routes.
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