waterway

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waterway

/ˈwɔːtəweɪ/ UK
/ˈwoːtəwɛj/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈwɔtɚweɪ/
/ˈwɑtɚweɪ/ cot caught merger
/ˈwoːtəwæɪ/ Australia, New Zealand
/ˈwɔtəɾwe/ Scotland
/ˈwɔːtəwei/ Wales

Where it comes from

From Middle English waterwey, from Old English wæterweġ (“waterway”), from Proto-West Germanic *watarweg, equivalent to water + way. Compare Saterland Frisian Woaterwai (“waterway”), West Frisian wetterwei (“waterway”), Dutch waterweg (“waterway”), German Wasserweg (“waterway”), Danish vandvej (“waterway”), Swedish vattenväg (“waterway”).

noun waterways

A body of water, such as a river, channel or canal, that is navigable. As hundreds of volunteers and police scoured parks and waterways in an area of New Orleans Tuesday, there were many questions but few answers about the disappearance 11 days ago of a 26-year-old teacher.
A conduit or watercourse, such as on the deck of a ship, to drain water.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: watercourse, canal, waterborne, navigable, aqueduct, channel, seaway, riverine, stream, hydroelectric, navigational, river, inboard, vessel, fluvial, sailing

Translations

Every language

noun navigable body of water

Español	hidrovía, torrentera
한국어	수로 suro
日本語	水路 suiro
中文	水路 shuǐlù, 航道 hángdào
Português	hidrovia
Français	voie navigable
Deutsch	Wasserstraße, Wasserweg, Fahrwasser
Română	cale navigabilă
Русский	фарва́тер farvátɛr, во́дный путь vódnyj putʹ
Tiếng Việt	đường thủy, đường sông, thủy lộ
العربية	مَمَرّ مَائِيّ mamarr māʔiyy
עברית	נְתִיב מַיִם netiv mayim

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{waterway_2026,
  title = {waterway},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/waterway},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}