道路
どうろ · douro · JLPT N3 · noun
road
🛣️ 道 way + 路 path = road; douro sounds like Portugal's Douro river
Both kanji mean road: 道 is the way (as in 柔道 judo, the gentle way) and 路 is a path or route. Doubling them gives the plain word for a road. The reading dōro sounds like the Douro, the river that runs through Porto.
道 — 辶 (walk) + 首 (head)
Originally a compound of 辶 'walk/movement' and 首 'head', depicting a path one walks while looking ahead. The literal sense 'road, way' extended metaphorically to 'method, doctrine, the Way (Dao)'. This philosophical meaning became central in Daoist and Confucian thought.
路 — foot 足 + each 各 (phonetic)
路 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The foot radical 足 on the left signals meaning related to walking or travel, while 各 on the right hints at the ancient pronunciation. Originally referring to a road traveled on foot, it broadened to mean 'road, path, route' in general.