journey
Pluraljourneys
Verbjourneys, journeying, journeyed
Often confused with trip and travel
Pluraljourneys
Formsjourneys, journeying, journeyed
- 1A single trip or voyage from one place to another, considered as one unit of travel.
Their journey across the desert lasted nearly two weeks.
She recorded every stage of the journey in a small notebook.
UsageSay a journey or a trip (not
incorrect: a travel); a journey takes or lasts a time: the journey takes two hours.Similartrip, voyage, trek, expedition
Note
Wordsworth's "a journey long" (1807) shows its inverted, poetic use.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Wordsworth used the exact phrase a journey long in Star Gazers. en.wikisource.org
- The quotation's first publication was in 1807, in Poems, in Two Volumes. en.wikisource.org
- 2A process or progression imagined as a journey, especially one involving hardship or personal growth.
Recovery from addiction is often described as a lifelong journey.
The company's journey from a garage startup to a household name spanned a decade.
UsageOften journey to a goal or journey of an experience: the journey to freedom, my journey of recovery.
Similarpath, road, odyssey, process
Note
Science and industry writers use it as readily as memoirists, from American Scientist to RAIL.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- American Scientist contains an example of the figurative sense, including journey to understanding how our brains work. en.wiktionary.org
- RAIL contains an example of the figurative sense. en.wiktionary.org
- 3To travel; to make a trip or voyage from one place to another.
Pilgrims journey to the shrine each spring.
She journeyed alone through three countries before returning home.
UsageUsually with to: journey to the shrine. The forms keep the y: journeys, journeyed.
Note
It usually names a destination with to, as in a 1951 Railway Magazine piece on sparing passengers the trouble of journeying to the termini.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- A June 1951 Railway Magazine article, “British Railways Summer Services,” discusses saving passengers the trouble of journeying to the termini. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 4A day's travel, or the distance covered over the course of a single day.
Note
Here the day becomes a measure of road. A journey was as far as one could go between morning and night, and from that the word loosened into any trip at all, the meaning it keeps in the ordinary travel sense. This sense is obsolete, so modern prose uses a day's journey for what the single word once said.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Journey formerly meant a day's travel or the distance travelled in a day; this sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- The word broadened from travel within one day to travel without that time restriction. gutenberg.org
- 5A single day regarded as a unit of time.
Note
The meaning closest to the word's root, Latin diēs, "day", the origin that the travel sense grew from. Nobody now uses the word for a day, so this sense matters mainly as a key to older prose. In modern writing, say day and leave this meaning to the texts that once used it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Journey ultimately derives from Latin diēs, meaning 'day'; the day sense is closest to that root meaning. en.wiktionary.org
- The travel sense developed from the word's association with a day. en.wiktionary.org
- 6The amount of work completed in one day.
Note
Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (1485) uses it for a knight's task: "whan ye haue done that Iourney." What is measured is the labor, not the road, which matches French journée in the sense of a day's activities. Because the sense is obsolete, a modern reader of Malory can easily picture travel where the text means a deed.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Sir Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte Darthur, first published in 1485. gutenberg.org
- The quoted wording occurs in the work, referring to a knight's task. en.wiktionary.org
- In this passage, journey means a day's work rather than travel. gutenberg.org
- French journée can refer to the activities of a day. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A group of giraffes considered together as a single unit.
- 8The weight of finished coins handed over in a single delivery to the Master of the Mint.
- 9The period taken to melt a single batch of glass and work it up completely.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Middle English "journe", from Old French "jornee", which traces back through Vulgar Latin and Late Latin to Latin "diurnus" and "dies" ("day"). It replaced the native Old English words "fær" and "faru".
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Journey comes from Middle English journe and Old French jornee. en.wiktionary.org
- The ancestry passes through Vulgar Latin and Late Latin to Latin diurnus and dies, meaning day. en.wiktionary.org
- Journey displaced the native Old English words fær and faru. en.wiktionary.org