downstairs

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English down-

Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *stéygʰeti

Proto-Germanic *stīganą

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti

Proto-Germanic *-janą

Proto-Germanic *staigijaną

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Proto-Germanic *-raz

Proto-Germanic *staigraz

Proto-Germanic *staigriz

Proto-West Germanic *staigri

Old English stǣġer

Middle English steire

English stair

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ms

Proto-Indo-European *-omsder.

Proto-Germanic *-anzder.?

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂m̥s

Proto-Germanic *-ōz

Proto-Germanic *-ōsder.?

Old English -as

Middle English -es

English -s

English downstairs

From down- + stair + -s.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɛɹz/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɛəz/
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteːz/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstiəz/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteəz/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈsteɹz/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /daʊnˈstɜː(ɹ)z/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)z
• Hyphenation: down‧stairs

Adjective

downstairs (comparative further downstairs or farther downstairs, superlative furthest downstairs or farthest downstairs)

1. Located on a lower floor.

   The kids sleep in the downstairs bedroom; we sleep in the upstairs one.

2. (linguistics, semantics, syntax) Originating in or associated with a lower, embedded clause, as opposed to the matrix clause.
   • 1989, Laurence R. Horn, chapter 5, in A Natural History of Negation‎^[1], Chicago: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 330:

     In referring to the conditions under which an upstairs negation can be associated with the lower clause, rather than the conditions under which a downstairs negative can be raised, I have tacitly endorsed the semantic or pragmatic approach to the NRP, without having dispelled the problems posed by the intra- and cross-linguistic variation in the selection of trigger predicates.

Derived terms

• upstairs-downstairs

Translations

downstairs (adjective); a floor lower than the current one

• Finnish: alakerta (fi) sg
• French: en bas (fr)
• Hungarian: lenti (hu), földszinti (hu)
• Japanese: 階下 (ja) (kaika)
• Korean: 아래층 (ko) (araecheung)
• Polish: na dole (pl)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: آشاغی (aşağı)

Adverb

downstairs (comparative further downstairs or farther downstairs, superlative furthest downstairs or farthest downstairs)

1. Down the stairs.

   I have to walk downstairs to leave the building.

   The lodger lives downstairs.

2. (figurative) In or to hell.
3. (slang, euphemistic) Regarding the genitalia.

   something wrong downstairs

4. (linguistics, semantics, syntax) In or to a lower, embedded clause, as opposed to the matrix clause.
   • 1989, Laurence R. Horn, chapter 5, in A Natural History of Negation‎^[2], Chicago: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 346:

     Given that all English speakers conventionally use verbs like think and suppose so as to transmit their negation downstairs, while only some speakers operate with the analogous convention for guess, and none do for hope, the distribution of polarity until follows accordingly: […]

Translations

downstairs (adverb)

• Bulgarian: до́лу (dólu), надо́лу (nadólu)
• Catalan: a baix (ca), escala avall (where to)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樓下 / 楼下 (zh) (lóuxià)

• Dutch: beneden (nl)
• Esperanto: subŝtupare, malsupre, en la malsupra etaĝo (literally “on the lower floor”)
• Finnish: alakerrassa (fi), alakertaan (fi)
• French: au-dessous (fr), en bas (fr)
• German: unten (de), treppab (de), treppabwärts, nach unten
• Hungarian: lent (hu), lenn (hu), (on the ground floor [UK] or first floor [US]) a földszinten
• Indonesian: lantai bawah
• Irish: thíos an staighre (location), síos an staighre (direction)
• Italian: giù (it), di sotto
• Japanese: 階下 (ja) (かいか, kaika)
• Korean: 아래층에 (ko) (araecheung'e), 아래층으로 (ko) (araecheung'euro) (where to)
• Latvian: lejup, lejā, apakšējā stāvā
• Neapolitan: abbascio
• Norman: à bas
• Old English: niþre (where), niþer (where to)
• Persian: طبقهٔ پایین (fa) (tabaqe-ye pâyîn)
• Polish: na dole (pl) (where), na dół (where to)
• Portuguese: embaixo (pt) (Brazil)
• Russian: внизу́ (ru) (vnizú) (where), на ни́жнем этаже́ (na nížnem etažé) (where); вниз (ru) (vniz) (where to), на ни́жний эта́ж (na nížnij etáž) (where to)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: dołojce

• Spanish: abajo (es)
• Sundanese: landeh
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: آشاغی (aşağı)

• Volapük: dono (vo)
• Welsh: lawr llawr (South), i lawr y staer (South), i lawr y grisiau (North)

Noun

downstairs (plural downstairs)

1. The lower floor of a house, at ground level, or sometimes below.

   We looked over the house; downstairs was spacious, but upstairs really cramped.

   1. In particular, especially historically, the servants’ quarters.

      The family tried to ignore gossip from downstairs.

      • 1978, Tom Reamy, Blind Voices:

        Now the two of them rattled around in the old house, even with his office and small clinic sharing the downstairs with the kitchen, parlor, and dining room.

2. (slang, euphemistic) The genitalia.

   The wind lifted up her skirt and I caught a glimpse of her downstairs.

Antonyms

• upstairs

Translations

the genitalia

• Finnish: alapää (fi)
• French: en bas (fr)
• Italian: di sotto, giù (it)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can

References

• “downstairs, adv., adj., and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022.