cowpath
Worn bovine route
A cowpath is a narrow trail worn by cattle walking the same route repeatedly.
The word often appears in the observation that Boston's streets follow old cowpaths—winding and irregular rather than planned on a grid.
In technology and design, cowpath describes informal routes that emerge from actual use rather than planning: We should pave the cowpaths and put sidewalks where people actually walk.
Path through wilderness
- pastureGrazing ground for livestock
- meadowGrassy field for grazing
- grazingFeeding on pasture
- fenceBoundary structure between properties
gate · herd · cattle · livestock · farmland · hedgerow · field · dirt
From living matter
- unplannedNot arranged beforehand
- desireIntense wanting
- shortcutQuicker alternative path
- pedestrianOne traveling afoot
erosion · foot traffic · walkway · informal · beaten · trodden · natural · route
What's passed down
- workflowSequential task progression
- workaroundMakeshift bypass of difficulty
- technical debtAccumulated coding shortcuts
- refactoringCode improvement, same behavior
process · inefficiency · habit · convention · codebase · antipattern · institutionalized · documentation
trail
Path through wilderness
fence · gate · herd · cattle · livestock · farmland · hedgerow · field · dirt · mud
organic
From living matter
pedestrian · erosion · foot traffic · walkway · informal · beaten · trodden · natural · route · subway
legacy
What's passed down
- workflowSequential task progression
- workaroundMakeshift bypass of difficulty
- technical debtAccumulated coding shortcuts
refactoring · process · inefficiency · habit · convention · codebase · antipattern · institutionalized · documentation · migration
cowpathhighway
Major road for travel
freeway · interstate · motorway · expressway · superhighway
cow, cows, cowherd, coward, cowgirl, cowboy, cowshed, path, paths