step-

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: step, štep, stęp, and STEP

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Translations

[edit]

References

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]

Middle English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

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

[edit]

Prefix

[edit]

step-

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

Derived terms

[edit]

Descendants

[edit]
  • English: step-
  • Scots: step-, stap-

References

[edit]