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Glite Dictionary
🛤️ Old trade route 🌏 New trade network
Silk Road

Silk Road

4 4.2
A network of old trade routes linking China with the Mediterranean
  • proper noun
  • /sɪlk roʊd/
translation icon : Ruta de la Seda
  • The plant then made its way to Turkey via the Silk Road, later becoming a symbol of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Silk Road trade
  • Silk Road in China
  • traveled the Silk Road

I'm working on the Silk Road and I see that thousands of year old Buddhist paintings and murals are being preserved.

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Examples

  • Its easternmost point, Chang'an feile (Xi'an today), is considered the starting point of the Silk Road.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The latest dated to around A.D. 500, a time when the Silk Road was flourishing.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The Silk Road opened up over 3,000 years ago.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Medieval trade along the Silk Road carried the game to East and Southeast Asia, where many local variants developed.

  • Traveling the Silk Road was not without its hazards.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Transit trade across the Silk Road continued, but its share in Iran's economic well-being diminished.

    Academic text (2007)

  • I'm working on the Silk Road and I see that thousands of year old Buddhist paintings and murals are being preserved.

    Harvard University

  • The ancient trade routes known as the Silk Road connected East and West for centuries.

  • Many spices and goods were exchanged along the Silk Road, enriching various cultures involved.

  • Historians study the Silk Road to understand the impact of trade on the development of civilizations.

Synonyms

trade route
vsSilk Road
11 3.0

A regular route used to carry goods between regions or countries

is a particular historic international network, not just any merchant path
ancient trade route
vsSilk Road
1 6.5

A path from long ago for carrying goods between places

is the specific ancient network linking China and the Mediterranean

Surface Forms

Silk Road main

Morphology

silk + road

The compound 'Silk Road' transparently evokes a road or route associated with silk, so a B1 learner who knows 'silk' and 'road' can likely infer it refers to a trade route or historical corridor where silk was transported. However, its status as a proper name and the contemporary, geopolitically specific sense (e.g. China-led networks/Belt and Road Initiative) are metaphorical extensions and not fully predictable from the parts, so full understanding requires cultural or background knowledge.

Etymology

Silk Road comes from the image of long trade routes where silk and other goods were carried by traders on camels between China and the Mediterranean. That's why Silk Road means the old network of routes that connected East and West for trade.