byway vs shortcut

byway

noun
  • a road or track not following a main route; a minor road or path. 

  • a little-known or arcane field of study or detail. 

  • a road that is not frequently travelled. 

shortcut

noun
  • A path between two points that is faster than the commonly used paths. 

  • A keyboard shortcut: a combination of keystrokes that provides easier access to a command or operation. 

  • A method to accomplish something that omits one or more steps. 

  • A file that points to the location of another file and serves as a quick way to access it. 

verb
  • To take or use a shortcut 

How often have the words byway and shortcut occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )