Waypoint

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A reference location in navigation that provides direction and helps travelers maintain a route through various stages of a journey
2. A specific point marked for navigation that aids in guiding or charting a course along a route
3. A predetermined spot chosen to assist in orienting oneself and tracking progress during travel

Etymology: "Waypoint" is a plain compound of "way" and "point," joining the Old English "weg," meaning road or path, with a word for a sharp end or a mark, which reached English through Old French and Latin. Put together, the pair describes a spot set along a route, and the sense of a stopping mark on a journey is a natural extension of those two ideas. The term's modern meaning came about through navigation. Sailors and travelers used points along a course to check their progress, and the compound fits that practice closely: each point is a marked place on the way, not the destination itself. Its later use in aviation and digital mapping built on the same logic, with the word applied to fixed locations that guide a vehicle or a route from one stage to the next.

Synonyms: checkpoint, stopover, milestone