Voyage, journey, trip

Question

These are words related to travelling. Can you use them indistinctively?

Ryan smith · Accepted Answer

They are somewhat interchangeable. Here are my own prejudices:

A sea voyage. (going from A to B by ship)

An overland journey. (lengthy and arduous travel from A to B)

A day trip. (short, quick travel from A to B, implies a return trip from B to A in the near future)

Although, if you stick with "trip" you can't go wrong.

Raul · Answer

I just want to add that "voyage" is of French origin. I've been using these words interchangeably, but I'm afraid there's a slight difference. I can recall that someone said that "there are no exact synonyms; nobody coins a word to define something already stated". Good "rule of thumb" to a certain extent, but it has flaws.

Anyway, "journey" usually means the movement to and/or from a place that is visited; "trip" means the journey and the visit together.

I hope you had a good journey. Are you tired?
How was your trip to South America.

BTW, just note that "travel" (another possible synonym) is uncountable and means "travelling in general". So, formally speaking, the utterance "I hope you had a good travel" is incorrect. "Journey" or "trip" should be used instead. However, the plural "travels" is sometimes used to imply a long trip in which several placed are visited.

At last you're back from your travels!

Hope this helps!

Elena · Answer

I was told 'trip' and 'travel' have French origin too. Travel from 'travail' and 'trip' from Old French  'tripper',  and this from German.  Yes?

Anonymous · Answer

hahaha, you guys are really warm-hearted, and helpful.thank you so much.

Voyage, journey, trip

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