causeway

From Middle English cawcewey, combining cauce (a route or highway, from Anglo-Norman and Old French caucee/cauchie) with way. The first part traces back to Vulgar Latin *calciāta, itself linked either to Latin calx, calcis (limestone) or to calciō (to stamp with the heels), from calx (heel).

The word joined a term for a paved route with 'way,' fusing two ideas of passage into one — a road built up to cross ground that couldn't otherwise be walked.

It shares its French descendant with chaussée, the modern French word for a paved road or highway, both coming from the same Old French root cauchie.