Route, n.

(rōōt, or rowt, 4⁰) (Synop., § 130), n. [Fr. route, O. Fr. rote, from Lat. rupta (sc. via), from ruptus, p. p. of rumpere, to break; hence, lit. a broken or beaten way or path; Sp. rauda, ruta. Cf. supra.] The course or way which is traveled or passed, or to be passed; a passing; a course; a march.

Wide through the fuzzy field their route they take. Gay.

☞ Walker gives the preference “to the first sound [root] of this word, notwithstanding its coincidence in sound with another word of different meaning,” both as conforming to the best usage of his time, and also because “the fewer French sounds of this diphthong [or] we have in our language the better.” Most of the orthoepists who have succeeded Walker give the preference to root; but root is perhaps the more common pronunciation in the United States.