Dictionary

royal road en · NOUN

Etymology

In reference to Euclid, who is said to have told a king that there was no royal road to geometry. In the musical sense, a calque of Japanese 王道進行, itself deriving from a calque of sense 1.

Meanings

1. An easy or straightforward procedure for achieving a goal; a procedure that requires little effort.
   • There is no royal road to success in transport work. 1942 May-June, T. F. Cameron, “An Outline of Railway Traffic Operation”, in Railway Magazine, page 138:
2. A chord progression, IVᴹ⁷–V⁷–iii⁷–vi, common in Japanese pop music.

Forms

Translations (7)

fi helppo tie (easy way) · sv kungsväg (easy way) · pl łatwy sposób (easy way) · es camino real (easy way) · fr voie royale (easy way) · de Königsweg (easy way) · ja 王道 (easy way)