Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “superhighway” come from?

Superhighway is a twentieth-century English coinage combining Latin super- with Old English hēahweġ, literally meaning "high road."

superhighway (English): An expressway, especially one designed for high...

Definitions

  1. An expressway, especially one designed for high...

Ancestry of “superhighway”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishhighwayA main, direct public road, especially a...
2Middle Englishheiȝwai—
3Old Englishhēahweġmain road, highway
4Old Englishhēahhigh, tall, lofty, high-class, exalted, sublime,...
5Old Englishhāmhome; village, community; village, hamlet, manor,...
6Proto-West Germanichaimhome
7Proto-Germanichaimazhome; house; village
8Proto-Indo-Europeanḱóymosof the home, belonging to the family; village,...
9Proto-Indo-Europeanḱey-to be lying down; to settle
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ḱey- →