From Latin 'advenīre' (to arrive) — originally a tree-lined approach road to a grand house before broadening to mean any wide street.
A broad road in a town or city, typically having trees at regular intervals along its sides; a way of approaching or making progress toward something.
From French avenue (a way of approach, an access road), feminine past participle of avenir (to come to, to arrive at), from Latin advenīre (to come to, to arrive, to reach), from ad- (to, toward) + venīre (to come), from PIE *gʷem- (to come, to go, to step). The Proto-Indo-European root *gʷem- is one of the most basic motion verbs in the language family, producing Latin venīre (to come), Greek bainein (to step, to go), Sanskrit gam- (to go), and English come itself (via Germanic). In French military usage, an avenue was originally a way of approach to a fortified
The original avenues in English were not city streets but tree-lined approaches to grand country houses — a road you would come along to arrive at a manor. The shift from 'approach to a house' to 'any broad road' happened as cities adopted the word for their widest, most impressive streets. In New York, avenues run north–south while streets run east