路

Han character

路 (Kangxi radical 157, 足+6, 13 strokes, cangjie input 口一竹水口 (RMHER), four-corner 6716₄, composition ⿰𧾷各)

Glyph origin

More information Historical forms of the character 路, Western Zhou ...

Historical forms of the character 路
Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ɡ·raːɡs): semantic 足 + phonetic 各 (OC *klaːɡ).

Etymology

Either related to 格 (OC *klaːɡ, *kraːɡ, “to come, to arrive (obsolete)”) (Baxter, 1992) or from Proto-Austroasiatic *kraʔ (“road, way”) (Schuessler, 2007), whence Proto-Vietic *kraːʔ (→ fossilized Vietnamese sá & Muong khá (“road, way”)), Chong [script needed] (khraa), Kuy (k)na, and Proto-Waic *kraʔ. Possibly cognate with 略 (OC *ɡ·raɡ).

"-year-old, in multiples of ten"

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 路(じ) (ji). See Japanese 三十路(みそじ) (misoji).

Pronunciation

Definitions

路

1. road; path; street (Classifier: 條／条)

   修路  ―  xiūlù  ―  to build a road

   • 這正如地上的路；其實地上本沒有路，走的人多了，也便成了路。 [MSC, trad.]
     这正如地上的路；其实地上本没有路，走的人多了，也便成了路。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1921, Lu Xun, 故鄉 (My Old Home)

     Zhè zhèngrú dìshàng de lù; qíshí dìshàng běn méiyǒu lù, zǒu de rén duō le, yě biàn chéng le lù. [Pinyin]

     It is just like roads across the earth. For actually the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made.

2. pattern; arrangement; sequence

   思路  ―  sīlù  ―  train of thought

   紋路／纹路  ―  wénlù  ―  veined pattern

3. way; method

   生路  ―  shēnglù  ―  means of livelihood; way of subsistence

   • 無路請纓，等終軍之弱冠。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     无路请缨，等终军之弱冠。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 7th century, 王勃 (Wang Bo), 滕王閣序

     Wúlù qǐngyīng, děng Zhōng Jūn zhī ruòguàn. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

4. journey

   回家的路很遠。／回家的路很远。  ―  Huíjiā de lù hěn yuǎn.  ―  It's a long journey to return home.

   佢身體好虛，行幾步路都會暈。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢身体好虚，行几步路都会晕。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ san¹ tai² hou² heoi¹, haang⁴ gei² bou⁶ lou⁶ dou¹ wui⁵ wan⁴. [Jyutping]

   His body is very weak, walking only a few steps already makes him dizzy.

   還有一公里的路要走。 [MSC, trad.]
   还有一公里的路要走。 [MSC, simp.]

   Háiyǒu yī gōnglǐ de lù yào zǒu. [Pinyin]

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 三十功名塵與土，八千里路雲和月。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     三十功名尘与土，八千里路云和月。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Yue Fei (1103-1142), Man Jiang Hong (滿江紅)

     Sānshí gōngmíng chén yǔ tǔ, bāqiān lǐ lù yún hé yuè. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. route

   三路進軍／三路进军  ―  sān lù jìnjūn  ―  to advance along three routes

   12路公交車／12路公交车  ―  12 lù gōngjiāochē  ―  No. 12 bus

6. kind; type
7. region

   各路人馬／各路人马  ―  gè lù rénmǎ  ―  people from different places

8. Classifier for lines or rows.
9. -year-old, in multiples of ten; decade(s) of one's life; Used for describing the style of people in such age range.

   三十路大叔  ―  sānshílù dàshū  ―  a man in his thirties

10. (historical) circuit (an administrative unit during the Song and Yuan dynasties)
11. a surname

Compounds

References

• “路”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “路”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.