# waterway

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #23,153

## Definitions
1. A body of water, such as a river, channel or canal, that is navigable.
2. A conduit or watercourse, such as on the deck of a ship, to drain water.

## Etymology
From Middle English waterwey, from Old English wæterweġ (“waterway”), from Proto-West Germanic *watarweg, equivalent to water + way. Compare Saterland Frisian Woaterwai (“waterway”), West Frisian wetterwei (“waterway”), Dutch waterweg (“waterway”), German Wasserweg (“waterway”), Danish vandvej (“waterway”), Swedish vattenväg (“waterway”).

## Easily confused with
- **watery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waterway-vs-watery)
- **waterman** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waterman-vs-waterway)

## Common misspellings (12)
`awterway`, `waetrway`, `waterawy`, `waterrway`, `waterwayy`, `waterwway`, `waterwya`, `watewray`, `watreway`, `watterway`, `wtaerway`, `wwaterway`

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