street

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street^¹

/stɹiːt/ UK
[ʃt͡ʃɹiːt] UK
/stɹit/ US
[ʃtɹ̠̊iʔ] Philadelphia, US
[skɹitˀ] US
[ʃkɹitˀ] US

Rhymes with -iːt

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English strete, from Anglian Old English strēt (“street”, compare West Saxon Old English strǣt) from Proto-West Germanic *strātu (“street”), an early borrowing from Late Latin (via) strāta (“paved (road)”), from Latin strātus, past participle of sternō (“stretch out, spread, bestrew with, cover, pave”), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- (“to stretch out, extend, spread”). Doublet of estrade and stratum.

The /aː/ vowel of the Latin etymon shifted by Anglo-Frisian brightening to /æː/ in West Saxon and /eː/ in Anglian Old English; these developed respectively to /ɛː/ and /eː/ in Middle English, /ɛː/ and /iː/ in Early Modern English, and finally /iː/ in Modern English by the Great Vowel Shift. The modern spelling reflects the Anglian form, as in sleep, greedy, sheep.

Cognates

Cognate with Scots stret, strete, streit (“street”), North Frisian Straat, stroot, struat (“street”) (North Frisian forms are borrowed from Middle Low German strâte), Saterland Frisian Sträite (“street”), West Frisian strjitte (“street”), Bavarian Stråßn (“street”), Dutch straat (“street”) (see doublet straat), German Strasse, Straße (“street”), German Low German Straat, Straote (“street”), Limburgish sjtraot, straot (“street”), Luxembourgish Strooss (“street”), Mòcheno stros (“street”), Vilamovian śtrös, štrȫs (“street”), Yiddish שטראָז (shtroz, “street”), Danish stræde (“alley, lane, narrow street”), Faroese and Icelandic stræti (“street”), Norwegian Bokmål strede (“narrow street”), Swedish stråt (“path, road, route; way, course”) (Scandinavian forms are borrowed from Old English), Portuguese and Spanish estrada (“road”), Italian strada (“road, street”).

Related to Old English strēowian, strewian (“to strew, scatter”), Latin sternō, Ancient Greek στορνύναι (stornúnai). See more at strew.

noun streets · streete · streat · streate

A paved part of road, usually in a village or a town. Walk down the street until you see a hotel on the right.
A road as above, but including the sidewalks (pavements) and buildings. I live on the street down from Joyce Avenue.
Similar: way
Canada, US, specifically The roads that run perpendicular to avenues in a grid layout.
The people who live in such a road, as a neighborhood.
The people who spend a great deal of time on the street in urban areas, especially, the young, the poor, the unemployed, and those engaged in illegal activities. Take or be taken. Get yours or get got. It was the code of the streets and I'd lived by it. The way things was looking, I was prolly gone die by it too.
An illicit or contraband source, especially of drugs. I got some pot cheap on the street.
abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of Wall Street Orders were reported to have increased 2% monthly, ahead of the 1.2% expected by the street.
attributive Living in the streets. a street cat
slang, uncountable Streetwise slang. Toaster is street for guns.
in plural, slang People in general, as a source of information. Streets say something's happening tomorrow.
figuratively A great distance. He's streets ahead of his sister in all the subjects in school.
slang Each of the three opportunities that players have to bet, after the flop, turn and river.
uncountable A style of skateboarding featuring typically urban obstacles.

Similar: street

verb streets · streeting · streeted · streete · streat

To build or equip with streets. There are few places on this ſide the Alps better built, and ſo well Streeted as this, and none at all ſo well girt with Baſtions and Ramparts, which in ſome places are ſo ſpacious, that they uſually take the Air in Coaches upon the very Walls, which are beautified with divers rows of Trees and plea
To eject; to throw onto the streets. Stage doormen and all sorts of doormen are very quick at streeting a man who won't move fast. I know a well-known Irishman who at a New York theatre was streeted just because he was insisting on getting in when the house was apparently booked out.
broadly To heavily defeat. Wearing his custom-made silks, McCarthy duly rode the horse a treat as they streeted the opposition and helped connections clean up the bookies.
To go on sale. He points to the success of a recent Destiny's Child DVD that streeted just after member Beyonce's new solo CD
Japanese, Mormonism To proselytize in public. A person I met streeting in Osaka told me the above Kanji examples as well as many others that I have since forgot.

adjective more street · most street · streete · streat · streate

slang Having street cred; conforming to modern urban trends. Eric had to admit that she looked street—upscale street, but still street. Kayla's look tended to change with the seasons; at the moment it was less Goth than paramilitary, with laced jump boots.

Street^²

proper noun Streets

countable A surname.
countable, uncountable A hamlet in Orton parish, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria (OS grid ref NY6208).
countable, uncountable A small village in Branscombe parish, East Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref SY1888).
countable, uncountable A hamlet in Nether Wyresdale parish, Wyre district, Lancashire (OS grid ref SD5252).
countable, uncountable A hamlet in Glaisdale parish, North Yorkshire (OS grid ref NZ7304).
countable, uncountable A large village and civil parish in Somerset, previously in Mendip district (OS grid ref ST4836).
countable, uncountable A hamlet in Holcombe parish, Somerset, previously in Mendip district (OS grid ref ST6750).
countable, uncountable A hamlet in Winsham parish, Somerset (OS grid ref ST3507).
countable, uncountable A village in County Westmeath, Ireland.
Similar: Streete
countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: avenue, lane, boulevard, driveway, roadside, thoroughfare, way, sidewalk, alley, intersection, highway, road, path, curb, boardwalk, route

noun

Similar: street

Translations

Every language

noun broader sense

Español	calle, rúa, acera, facera

noun paved part of road in a village or a town

Español	calle, lleca, rúa, jirón
한국어	거리 geori, 가로 garo, 길 gil, 도로 doro, -가 -ga, 길거리 gilgeori
日本語	道 michi, 道路 dōro, 通り tōri, 街路 gairo, ストリート sutorīto, 通り -dōri
中文	街 jiē, 路 lù, 馬路 /马路 mǎlù, 街路 jiēlù, 街道 jiēdào
हिन्दी	गली galī, सड़क saṛak
Kiswahili	barabara, njia
Português	rua
Français	rue
Deutsch	Straße
Italiano	strada, via
Ελληνικά	οδός odós, δρόμος drómos
Română	stradă
Русский	у́лица úlica
Tiếng Việt	đường, đường phố, phố
العربية	شَارِع šāriʕ, زَنَقَة zanaqa
עברית	רְחוֹב rekhóv

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MLA

"street." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/street. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

street. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/street

Chicago

"street." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/street.

BibTeX

@misc{street_2026,
  title = {street},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/street},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}