1.
footprints; tracks; trail of steps
The marks or traces left by someone walking. Used both literally for physical footprints and figuratively for the traces or evidence of someone's journey or progress through life.
雪の上に歩跡が残っていた。
Footprints remained on the snow.
歩跡をたどって山道を進んだ。
I followed the tracks and continued along the mountain path.
先人たちの歩跡を振り返ると、多くの困難を乗り越えてきたことがわかる。
Looking back at the footsteps of our predecessors, we can see that they overcame many hardships.
Composed of 歩 (walk, step) and 跡 (trace, mark). A somewhat literary and formal word. The figurative sense — meaning the traces left by someone's life journey or accomplishments — is more common in written language than the literal sense of physical footprints.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 歩跡をたどる: to follow footprints; to trace someone's path
- 歩跡を残す: to leave footprints
- 歩跡を振り返る: to look back on one's journey
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 足跡: footprint — the everyday word for physical footprints
- 足跡: footsteps, achievements — the on'yomi reading used figuratively for accomplishments
- 痕跡: trace, vestige — any kind of remaining trace, not limited to walking