O.E. heiweg "main road from one town to another;" highwayman "one who travels the highways with intent to rob people" (often on horseback and thus contrasted to a footpad) is from 1649. High street (O.E. heahstræte) was the word before 17c. applied to highways and main roads, whether in the country or town, especially one of the Roman roads. In more recent usage, it generally is the proper name of the street of a town which is built upon a highway and was the principal street of the place.

a road, especially a large or main road

Arabic: طريق عام، طريق رئيسي Chinese (Simplified): 公路 Chinese (Traditional): 公路 Czech: cesta; silnice, hlavní silnice Danish: hovedvej Dutch: hoofdweg Estonian: maantee Finnish: valtatie French: grand-route German: die (Haupt-, Land-)Straße Greek: αυτοκινητόδρομος Hungarian: országút, közút; főútvonal (főleg Amerikában) Icelandic: þjóðvegur; aðalvegur Indonesian: jalan raya Italian: strada principale*

Japanese: 幹線道路 Korean: 주요 도로 Latvian: autostrāde Lithuanian: plentas, autostrada Norwegian: motorvei, hovedvei Polish: szosa Portuguese (Brazil): estrada Portuguese (Portugal): estrada principal Romanian: autostradă Russian: автомагистраль Slovak: (hlavná) cesta; autostráda Slovenian: avtocesta Spanish: carretera; carretera principal, autopista Swedish: landsväg Turkish: ana yol, kara yolu