noun
branch road; byroad; side street
A smaller road that branches off from a main road.
大通りから枝道に入ると急に静かになった。
When we turned off the main street into a side street, it suddenly became quiet.
noun
Figurative use: straying from the main topic in conversation or thought.
話が枝道にそれてしまった。
The conversation digressed.
Compound of 枝 (eda, 'branch') and 道 (michi, 'road'). The figurative sense extends the branching metaphor to conversation.