Guyde

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To show someone the way or steer their course along a route ; a person or thing that leads others or points out the path
2. To lead another person along a path or direct their course through unfamiliar territory ; someone or something that shows others the way forward
3. To conduct or steer someone through a journey or a process ; a leader, escort, or reference that points others in the right direction

Etymology: "Guyde" is simply an obsolete spelling of "guide," so its story is the story of "guide." The verb came into Middle English around 1325–75, borrowed from Old French "guider," which had itself been taken from Old Occitan "guidar," the language of southern France. Behind that lies a Frankish verb "wītan," meaning "to show the way, lead," which the Franks, a Germanic people, brought into Gaul. The surprise is how far the word's sense has drifted from its roots. The Germanic ancestor, Proto-Germanic "wītaną," could mean "to see, know" as well as "go, depart," and its Proto-Indo-European source, "weyd-," meant "to see, know." Guiding, in other words, began as a kind of knowing and seeing. The Old English cousin "wītan" meant "to see, take heed to, watch after, guard, keep," and it is the same root that gave English "wit," the faculty of knowing.

Synonyms: guide, lead, steer, direct, conduct