Sentier: a path made by going

The French word ‘sentier’ refers to a narrow path formed by repeated passage rather than construction. Its origin lies in Latin ‘semita’, meaning a small footpath or byway, and its meaning has remained remarkably consistent across centuries. A ‘sentier’ is not defined by planning, ownership, or legal right, but by use: it exists because people or animals keep passing the same way. This word card explores how ‘sentier’ names a route shaped by movement itself, and how language, like landscape, records the traces of where we have been.