# footpath [=sidewalk /pavement?]



## Gavril

Hello,

Do all standard forms of English normally use _footpath_ for a public pathway intended only for pedestrians, or are there differences?

I ask because I recall one dictionary (Random House, I think) saying that _footpath_ is used in British Eng. for what US English calls the sidewalk, so I thought there might be some potential confusion there.

Thanks for any help


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## WyomingSue

I don't use the word footpath very often. To me, any kind of path sugests dirt, gravel, or maybe brick. A sidewalk is paved or brick.


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## perpend

I agree with Sue. I have encoutered usage of "footpath" in parks in the USA.

Here's some usage ...
_Welcome to the Angeles National Forest! Mountain bikes are welcome on all trails within the Angeles National Forest except those within a designated &shy;Wilderness or on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (which is designated as a *footpath*_
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/f...pe=detail&pname=Angeles National Forest- Maps

I would never use "footpath" to mean a "sidewalk".


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## Cagey

Our own dictionary (Colliers) includes this as a meaning of footpath
_chiefly  Brit  Austral  NZ _
another word for pavement​ [BE pavement is AE sidewalk.]​ 
We need some testimony from speakers of the relevant varieties of English.


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## Bevj

I don't think that 'footpath' and 'pavement' are the same thing.
A pavement is as WyomingSue has said, the paved or brick zone along the side of a road whee pedestrians can walk.
A footpath is an unsurfaced or roughly surfaced path, possibly through a park, through a wooded area, along a river bank etc.  I would never refer to the side of an asphalted road as a footpath.


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## natkretep

I think Oxford Dictionaries does a fairly good job:


> *footpath *Pronunciation: /ˈfʊtpɑːθ/
> *noun*
> a path for people to walk along, especially a right of way in the countryside.
> 
> 
> _British_ a path for pedestrians in a built-up area; a pavement.


It recognises that _footpath_ as a word in International English any path for walking along (particularly for not-built-up areas), but includes its use to mean a pavement (= AmE sidewalk) as BrE. I think the latter is not unfamiliar-sounding (I'm pretty sure I've encountered this use in Australian English too), but I think _pavement_​ is the ordinary word.


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## kool-wind

The way I use the words 'footpath' and 'pavement' corresponds exactly to Bevj's #5 post.


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## entangledbank

In popular use in Britain, the streets have pavements but farms and woods have footpaths; but 'footpath' is the official term for the street pavement too: if it's blocked, there'll be a yellow sign asking pedestrians to use other footpath. In Australia 'footpath', not 'pavement', is the path by the street. I recently saw 'footway' somewhere - on one of those yellow signs, I think - and remember thinking it unusual.


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## L'irlandais

This discussion has been moved from: took a taxi and *drove* to the hotel (???)
Cagey, moderator 

Hello again OED,
Without over complicating the topic, AmE (Americian English) has (sometimes) kept older forms of English, while BrE (British English) has continued to evolve separately creating the two distinct dialects we know today.  





> So if Chaucer (1400) was the father of modern English, then the Pilgrim Fathers (1620) took an evolving language with them to the New World.  Words like pavement(footpath)  fall(autumn) favor(favour) are a few examples of older forms (Middle English) still used in the USA which have since changed in Europe and elsewhere


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## kentix

Words like pavement(footpath)
fall(autumn)
favor(favour)

pavement and footpath are not AE/BE equals. The others are fine.


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## L'irlandais

Sorry kentix, I wasn't clear with my meaning.  The USA has kept the original meaning of pavement, i.e. the roadway.
In the U.K. Pavement has come to mean bands of hard surfacing either side of the carriage way, i.e. the footpath.
In the same way as you have kept the original meaning of the fall, meaning Autumn.
And the original spelling of words like favor.  Most people think AmE changed the spelling, where as the opposite is the case.


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## ewhite

L'irlandais said:


> Sorry kentix, I wasn't clear with my meaning.  The USA has kept the original meaning of pavement, i.e. the roadway.
> In the U.K. Pavement has come to mean bands of hard surfacing either side of the carriage way, i.e. the footpath.
> In the same way as you have kept the original meaning of the fall, meaning Autumn.
> And the original spelling of words like favor.  Most people think AmE changed the spelling, where as the opposite is the case.



Not quite. I cannot think of a situation where I would use pavement to mean roadway. That's the street. And what is the footpath to you is the sidewalk (if it is paved) to me. Pavement to me is the concrete material paving the sidewalk. (The roots of the tree outside my house broke through the pavement.)


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## Myridon

L'irlandais said:


> Sorry kentix, I wasn't clear with my meaning.  The USA has kept the original meaning of pavement, i.e. the roadway.
> In the U.K. Pavement has come to mean bands of hard surfacing either side of the carriage way, i.e. the footpath.
> In the same way as you have kept the original meaning of the fall, meaning Autumn.
> And the original spelling of words like favor.  Most people think AmE changed the spelling, where as the opposite is the case.


The problem is you have the wrong meaning of "footpath" for both BrE and Ame.  BrE pavement is AmE sidewalk.
"Favor" is the original spelling (though spelling was very flexible back then).
You should do some more research.


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## kentix

I assumed that was a quote from somewhere. But it's a misleading quote. Since the other two examples are absolutely equivalent you would expect the first example to be equivalent, but it's not.


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## L'irlandais

What is wrong with pavement (meaning footpath) in BrE?


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## kentix

Pavement is a general word in AE and means any paved surface - a motorway, a city road, a sidewalk, a plaza, a driveway, a racecourse. It describes the surface itself. Unless footpath means all of those things it's not the same word.

By contrast:

fall = autumn exactly (however, we also say autumn)

favor = favour exactly

What is your intended meaning of footpath? How would you describe it?


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## Packard

When I was in college the university's quadrangle featured paved walks and also shortcuts that students took that were not on the paved walks.  We referred to that as "creative pathology" 

This quad has lots of walks to minimize the "pathology" that we relied on.


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## JulianStuart

L'irlandais said:


> Sorry kentix, I wasn't clear with my meaning.  The USA has kept the original meaning of pavement, i.e. the roadway.
> In the U.K. Pavement has come to mean bands of hard surfacing either side of the carriage way, i.e. the footpath.
> In the same way as you have kept the original meaning of the fall, meaning Autumn.
> And the original spelling of words like favor.  Most people think AmE changed the spelling, where as the opposite is the case.


I think the BE use for the word pavement originally referred to the areas on each side of a street that were paved for pedestrians to walk on. The part where the horses and carts were was dirt, gravel or cobblestone before MacAdam improved the surfaces.
Sidewalk - Wikipedia



> A *sidewalk* (American English) or *pavement* (British English), also known as a *footpath* or *footway*, is a path along the side of a road.
> ...
> A series of Paving Acts from the House of Commons during the 18th century, especially the 1766 Paving & Lighting Act, authorized the City of London Corporation to create foot-ways throughout all the streets of London, to pave them with Purbeck stone (the thoroughfare in the middle was generally cobblestone) and to raise them above the street level with curbs forming the separation.[11


This is what I think of when I read footpath


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## kentix

JulianStuart said:


> This is what I think of when I read footpath


Me, too. And not a square inch (or square meter) of pavement in sight.

So why is _this_ a part of the definition?
_"also known as a *footpath"*_

Is that very common?

Also in AE anything that looks like and is constructed like a sidewalk is often called a sidewalk, even if it's not at the side of a road.


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## JulianStuart

Footpath seems to be quite a broad category, and is commonly used for the rural path across a field and, as noted in #8 above, is also used in official signage for the paved path that pedestrians use to walk alongside a road.  In BE, most people will call that the pavement, not a footpath. "Don't step off the footpath pavement until you've looked  both ways for approaching vehicles"


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## DonnyB

JulianStuart said:


> This is what I think of when I read footpath


Just to complicate matters a little, although I would expect that to be designated a "footpath" on a map, I'd actually call that a _"path" through the field,_ following the Oxford Dictionaries definition _A way or track laid down for walking or made by continual treading.  _


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## JulianStuart

DonnyB said:


> Just to complicate matters a little, although I would expect that to be designated a "footpath" on a map,_... _


 That was my intention, ... to describe something that might commonly be seen as named "footpath"


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## Andygc

entangledbank said:


> In popular use in Britain, the streets have pavements but farms and woods have footpaths; but 'footpath' is the official term for the street pavement too


That's actually a mistake. The official term in the UK is 'footway'. I could post links to several hundred highway authority websites, but this one should do.


DonnyB said:


> I'd actually call that a _"path" through the field,_


 Me too. The use of 'footpath' on an Ordnance Survey map refers only to public rights of way and is to differentiate it from a 'bridleway', a 'byway open to all traffic' and a 'restricted byway (not for use by mechanically propelled vehicles)'. A path marked on a map that is just a path (and not a right of way) is called ....... a 'path'.


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## JulianStuart

Notwithstanding how local government signs and the Ordnance Survey use more precise definitions, the term seems the broadest in general
My compact OED seems to agree with the only online Oxford I have access to

1. A path for people to walk along, especially a right of way in the countryside.
1.1 _British_ A path for pedestrians in a built-up area; a pavement.


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## ewie

Andygc said:


> The official term in the UK is 'footway'.


Officialdom can call it that till they're blue in the face.  In the meantime, to avoid being misunderstood by the remaining 65,999,427 Britishpersons who use _pavement_, I'll stick with that


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## JulianStuart

ewie said:


> Officialdom can call it that till they're blue in the face.  In the meantime, to avoid being misunderstood by the remaining 65,999,427 Britishpersons who use _pavement_, I'll stick with that


Probably something to do with legal issues - they need to be absolutely clear on which holes they are supposed to fill in road and pavement footway maintenance.  Even Cornwall.gov.uk in Andy's link is somewhat confused (or perhaps the web designer is  )  The page on footways is nested under Roads, highways and pavements 

https://w w w.cornwall.gov.uk/transport-and-streets/roads-highways-and-pavements/report-a-problem-with-a-road-highway-or-footway/


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## Andygc

Ewie, I was merely pointing out that e2efour's post about the official nomenclature was erroneous. Of course I call a pavement a pavement; I'm not a highways engineer or town planner. But not all footways are pavements. I've not met anybody who calls an ope or a ginnel a 'pavement'.


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## kentix

I've not met anybody who knows what an ope or a ginnel is. Including me.


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## Andygc

An ope is a short pathway between buildings in Plymouth. The word is extremely rarely used anywhere else. A ginnel is a narrow alleyway between buildings in some parts of the north of England. Several online dictionaries include ginnel (and snicket, which is also a footway that's not a BE pavement).


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## velisarius

Andygc said:


> A ginnel is a narrow alleyway between buildings in some parts of the north of England.


Ah, so it's a bit like a twitten.


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## natkretep

The ope is a walkway where I am. Occasionally it might be used for a pavement too!


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## Andygc

Learn something new every day. 


velisarius said:


> Ah, so it's a bit like a twitten.


Which dialect uses 'twitten'? Silly me, search first - twitten or twitting - South Downs



natkretep said:


> The ope is a walkway where I am. Occasionally it might be used for a pavement too!


I wonder if Plymouth-based sailors brought the word with them. It's curious that the OED says that an ope is usually covered; the named opes in Plymouth, of which there are many, are not usually covered.


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## Roymalika

Hi, 
I've read the previous posts. Some AE and BE speakers have said that they wouldn't use "footpath" to mean a sidewalk (a paved path for the pedestrians at the side of a road. Like this:


But I see examples from Lexico that use "footpath" to mean this sidewalk.
Here are some...
‘The girl was walking along a footpath by the side of the road towards Swinton when the accident happened.’ 
‘After long delays the work has commenced again on the footpaths along the Charlestown Road.’ 
etc.

I wonder why the dictionary uses "footpath" to mean a sidewalk? 

Thanks!


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## kentix

If I was reading that as an American, in an American context, I would assume it was an unpaved path - like this:





I'm not saying everybody would, but I would.


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## Roymalika

Thanks very much, kentix.

Could I have a comment from a BE speaker please? 
I'd be highly obliged.


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## Uncle Jack

I agree with kentix. In this picture, there is a footpath running alongside the road in the bottom right corner, but on the other side of the road there is a pavement. The side road has pavements on both sides.




It is also possible for a footpath to run immediately alongside a road (carriageway) if the path is not paved or if the road does not have a kerb.

Finally, as has been said earlier in this thread, a pavement is a footpath in a technical sense, but it is unusual for anyone to use "footpath" for something that is obviously a pavement, as in the picture above.


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## Andygc

Roymalika said:


> ‘The girl was walking along a footpath by the side of the road towards Swinton when the accident happened.’
> ‘After long delays the work has commenced again on the footpaths along the Charlestown Road.’
> etc.
> 
> I wonder why the dictionary uses "footpath" to mean a sidewalk?


Why do you assume that it does use "footpath" to mean "sidewalk"?
This is not a pavement. It is a footpath by the side of a road.


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## sound shift

In this photo, the "Pedestrians Please Use Other Footpath" sign clearly refers to the pavement (in the BrE sense).


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## Andygc

sound shift said:


> clearly refers to the pavement


Indeed. A pavement is a footpath, but not all footpaths are pavement. No sensible highways department is going to buy two sets of signs just to be able to say "pavement closed" when "footpath closed" says all that is needed.


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## Roymalika

Uncle Jack said:


> I agree with kentix. In this picture, there is a footpath running alongside the road in the bottom right corner, but on the other side of the road there is a pavement. The side road has pavements on both sides.
> View attachment 72921
> 
> It is also possible for a footpath to run immediately alongside a road (carriageway) if the path is not paved or if the road does not have a kerb.
> 
> Finally, as has been said earlier in this thread, a pavement is a footpath in a technical sense, but it is unusual for anyone to use "footpath" for something that is obviously a pavement, as in the picture above.


Hi, Uncle Jack. Thanks for your answer.
I'm having some difficulty understanding the difference between "pavement" and "footpath". Could you please explain how they are actually different?


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## Uncle Jack

Roymalika said:


> Hi, Uncle Jack. Thanks for your answer.
> I'm having some difficulty understanding the difference between "pavement" and "footpath". Could you please explain how they are actually different?


In the picture, do you mean?

A pavement has three features, and usually all three need to be present:

It is immediately adjacent to the carriageway, not separated from it by a strip of grass.
It is raised slightly above the carriageway, so the carriageway has a kerb edge.
It is paved, and not just by gravel or chippings, but by paving slabs, asphalt, concrete or something similar (but not wood - that would be a boardwalk).


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## kentix

In American English, both of these are sidewalks.


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## Andygc

A path for walking on is a footpath. A pavement is a type of footpath, as Uncle Jack explained. That's BE.


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## Roymalika

@Uncle Jack @kentix 
Could you please explain how "sidewalk" is different from a pavement and a footpath in BE and AE? 
Thanks.


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## JulianStuart

Footpath is a broad category (where you walk) covering a range of terms and, _when extending to the edge of a road_, includes pavement (BE) and sidewalk (AE).  All except lower right in #36 are sidewalks/pavements.


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## Roymalika

Uncle Jack said:


> It is also possible for a footpath to run immediately alongside a road (carriageway) if the path is not paved or if the road does not have a kerb.


May I ask whether there actually are such footpaths in the UK? If yes, can you give me a picture please?


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## Uncle Jack

Roymalika said:


> May I ask whether there actually are such footpaths in the UK? If yes, can you give me a picture please?


They are common enough in country areas. Here is one not far from where I live. The footpath is on the right. It isn't paved, and there is no kerb.


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## Keith Bradford

Uncle Jack said:


> I agree with kentix. In this picture, there is a footpath running alongside the road in the bottom right corner, but on the other side of the road there is a pavement. The side road has pavements on both sides.
> View attachment 72921
> 
> It is also possible for a footpath to run immediately alongside a road (carriageway) if the path is not paved or if the road does not have a kerb.
> 
> Finally, as has been said earlier in this thread, a pavement is a footpath in a technical sense, but *it is unusual for anyone to use "footpath" for something that is obviously a pavement*, as in the picture above.


!   !  That distinction has never come above my event horizon.

In everyday BE in my experience, _footpath _means both:
(a) a hard-surfaced area for pedestrians alongside a street in town (= pavement, AE sidewalk...);
(b) any route for pedestrians in the countryside, hard-surfaced or not.

Perhaps this is a regional variant?


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