From the Nara period, the study of Confucianism was sometimes called Myogyo, but as other departments came to end with the suffix '-do' (the character used was "道" literally meaning "the way") (such as Kidendo [study of the histories], Myohodo [study of codes], Sando [study of mathematics] and Shodo [calligraphy]) during the early Heian period, Myogyo came to be called Myogyodo.
儒学の研究を明経と呼ぶ例は奈良時代からあったが、平安時代前期に大学の各学科が「道」（紀伝道・明法道・算道・書道など）と呼ばれるようになると、明経道という呼称が定着した。