# travel

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈtɹævəl/ · frequency rank #1,100

## Definitions
1. To be on a journey, often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another.
2. To pass from one place to another; to move or transmit.
3. To move illegally by walking or running without dribbling the ball.
4. To travel throughout (a place).
5. To force to journey.
6. To labour; to travail.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English travelen (“to make a laborious journey, travel”) from Middle Scots travailen (“to toil, work, travel”), alteration of Middle English travaillen (“to toil, work”), from Old French travailler (“to trouble, suffer, be worn out”). See the doublets travail and travois.
Compare typologically routine << Latin rupta via. Note the inverse semantic vectors: travel moves from a subjective state (toil) to an objective action (journey), while routine moves from an objective object (beaten path) to a subjective pattern (habit).
Largely displaced native fare, from Old English faran (“to go [a long distance], to travel”). More at fare.

## Easily confused with
- **trove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-trove)
- **trawl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-trawl)
- **Travis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-travis)
- **travels** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-travels)
- **Travers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-travers)
- **traveled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-traveled)
- **traveler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/travel-vs-traveler)
- **Trav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trav-vs-travel)
- **trade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trade-vs-travel)
- **trail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trail-vs-travel)
- **trace** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trace-vs-travel)
- **traded** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/traded-vs-travel)
- **trades** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trades-vs-travel)
- **traces** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/traces-vs-travel)
- **traced** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/traced-vs-travel)
- **trader** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/trader-vs-travel)
- **Tracey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tracey-vs-travel)
- **tracer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tracer-vs-travel)

## Common misspellings (9)
`rtavel`, `tarvel`, `traevl`, `travell`, `travle`, `travvel`, `trravel`, `trvael`, `ttravel`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/travel