鉄道
てつどう · tetsudou · JLPT N3 · noun
railway
🚆🛤️ 鉄道 = iron (鉄 tetsu) + road (道 dō): the iron road
鉄 tetsu means iron and 道 dō means road or way, as in 柔道 judō and 剣道 kendō. The word is built like English railroad: a road made of iron rails. 地下鉄 chikatetsu, underground iron, is the subway.
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.