trade route

American  

noun

• trade routes
  plural

1. any route usually taken by merchant ships, caravans, etc.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• trade routes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of trade route

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trade route

"Nepal should develop an alternative China trade route and reconsider its wider development strategy, including its heavy concentration of hydropower projects along the same river system," Pandey says.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

The Gyirong Port is also a major border crossing between Nepal and China as well as an important trade route.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The beverage’s roots go back to 1565, when the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade route began between Mexico and the Philippines, permanently altering both countries’ culinary trajectories.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

Shipping traffic remains throttled in the Strait of Hormuz, a trade route off Iran’s coast that fully a third of the world’s seagoing oil exports traverse in a normal year.

From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2026

Particularly important, the Teotihuacan-backed dynasty took over several outposts on the Usumacinta River system, Yucatan’s most important trade route.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• sea lane