See also: step, štep, stęp, and STEP

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English step-, from Old English stēop- (deprived of a relative, step-, prefix), from Proto-West Germanic *steupa-, from Proto-Germanic *steupa- (orphaned, step-), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (to push, strike).

Cognate with Scots step- (step-), West Frisian stiep- (step-), Dutch stief- (step-), Low German steef- (step-), German stief- (step-), Swedish styv- (step-), Icelandic stjúp- (step-). Related to Old English stīepan (to deprive, bereave). Not, however, related to the familiar English noun or verb step.

Prefix

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step-

  1. A prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, and so forth, to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative but is related through the marriage of a parent.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English stēop- (deprived of a relative, step-, prefix), from Proto-West Germanic *steupa-, from Proto-Germanic *steupa- (orphaned, step-).

The short vowel is due to regular shortening of long vowels before consonant clusters in Early Middle English. All of the words that stēop- was prefixed to in Old English were consonant-initial, so shortening occurred exceptionlessly.

Pronunciation

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Prefix

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step-

  1. step- (related through the marriage of a parent)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: step-
  • Scots: step-, stap-

References

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