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A Path is the address of an object (i.e., file or folder) which specifies a unique location within a file management system.  A file management system is a organization of files on computers or  networks.  Paths are used extensively in computer science to represent the directory/file relationships common in modern operating systems.

A path is written as a string of characters in which components are separated by a delimiting character - most commonly the backslash character ("\") or colon (":") - to represent the hierarchy of folders.

For example the path 'C:\Program Files' points at the physical hard drive located on the computer which has been named 'C'.  Then the ':\' show that the 'Program Files' folder is located in the hierarchy beneath the 'C' drive.

A path is also called a 'address' because it is like an mailing address in that they both are a string of characters which - when read - give the location of a unique place.