軌跡
Meanings
tire track; wheel track
A physical line or mark left by a tire or wheel; in everyday speech タイヤの跡 is often plainer, while 軌跡 sounds a little more descriptive or technical.
Clear tire tracks remained on the snowy road.
traces; path taken; record of a course
Used figuratively for the path, development, or trace left by a person, organization, work, or event over time. Common in phrases such as 軌跡をたどる and 軌跡を振り返る.
A book tracing the course of his research was published.
This exhibition presents the artist's forty-year journey.
locus
Mathematical term for the set or path of points satisfying a given condition.
Find the locus of point P that satisfies the condition.
Usage patterns
- 〈人〉の軌跡をたどるto trace the path/development of someone's life or career
A program tracing the path of his life was broadcast.
- 軌跡を振り返るto look back on the course/history of one's career, an organization, etc.
It was an interview looking back on 40 years of history.
- 〈点〉の軌跡the locus of points satisfying a certain condition
This curve is the locus of points equidistant from the origin.