What is the difference between a street and a road?

zbeckabee

A road is a track for travel, forming a means of communication between one city, town, or place, and another. A street is a track for travel within any given city, town or place. Apr 17 06, 9:56 AM

Baloo55th

Street comes from Latin in origin (via Anglo-Saxon), and originally referred to a paved way. Road comes from an Anglo-Saxon root meaning to ride, and referred to a way passable by horseriders. In more modern usage, a street is mostly (as said by zbeck) urban, while a road can be urban or rural. That's the UK usage. In the USA, street refers to anything urban on the whole. In the UK, street has gone way out of fashion for new road names so anything called street in the name is likely to be pre-World War II, and even road is regarded as passé. New main roads seem to be called way, and side roads are avenues, mewses, crofts, or closes. Having said all that, there are the long-distance Watling Street, Ryknild Street and Ermine Street which were paved by the Romans even though they were probably already there as tracks. Apr 17 06, 10:46 AM

gmackematix

The usage of all these terms has long been flexible and the words street, avenue, road and so on have lost any real distinction between them. Hence one of the main streets in Toronto (and a smaller one in London) is called Avenue Road. [Also see Question #67468.] Apr 17 06, 9:53 PM

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