journey

Etymology

From Middle English iorney, from Old French jornee, from Medieval Latin diurnata (“a day's work, a day's journey, a fixed day, a day”), from Latin diurnus (“daily”), from diēs (“day”). Displaced native reys.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɝni/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɜːni/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ni

Noun

journey (plural journeys)

1. A set amount of travelling, seen as a single unit; a discrete trip, a voyage.
   • 2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 171:

     Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.

2. (obsolete) A day.
3. (obsolete) A day's travelling; the distance travelled in a day.
4. (obsolete) A day's work.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter vij, in Le Morte Darthur, book VI:

     But whan ye haue done that Iourney ye shal promyse me as ye are a true knyght for to go with me and to helpe me / and other damoysels that are distressid dayly with a fals knyghte / All your entente damoysel and desyre I wylle fulfylle / soo ye wyl brynge me vnto this knyghte

Verb

journey (third-person singular simple present journeys, present participle journeying, simple past and past participle journeyed)

1. To travel, to make a trip or voyage.

Further reading

• journey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• journey in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• journey at OneLook Dictionary Search