蹊径 in modern Chinese is almost exclusively used in the set phrase
另辟蹊径 (lìng pì xījìng — 'to open up a different path,' to take an unconventional approach). On its own it is highly literary. Note
蹊 has a second pronunciation xī used here; the same character read qī appears in
蹊跷 (qīqiao, 'fishy / odd').
