travel

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the act of going from one place to another
  2. noun a movement through space that changes the location of something
  3. noun self-propelled movement

Etymology

PIE word *tréyes From Middle English travelen (“to make a laborious journey, travel”) from Middle Scots travailen (“to toil, work, travel”), alteration of Middle English travaillen (“to toil, work”), from Old French travailler (“to trouble, suffer, be worn out”). See the doublets travail and travois. Compare typologically routine << Latin rupta via. Note the inverse semantic vectors: travel moves from a subjective state (toil) to an objective action (journey), while routine moves from an objective object (beaten path) to a subjective pattern (habit). Largely displaced native fare, from Old English faran (“to go [a long distance], to travel”). More at fare.

In classic literature

Synonyms

traveling, travelling

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