stair

See also: Stair

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English steire, staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English stǣġer (“stair, staircase”), from Proto-Germanic *staigriz (“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to walk, proceed, march, climb”). Cognate with Dutch steiger (“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir (“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger (“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English āstǣġan (“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English stīġan (“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege (“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɛəɹ/
• IPA^(key): /stɛə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophone: stare

Noun

stair (plural stairs)

1. A single step in a staircase.
2. A series of steps; a staircase.
   • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:

     Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

Synonyms

• (Cockney rhyming slang) apples and pears

Usage notes

• Stairs and stair are used to refer to a single staircase, mostly interchangeably in the UK.

Derived terms

Terms derived from stair (noun)

• above-stairs
• upstairs
• downstairs
• staircase
• stairgate, stair gate
• stair-stepping
• stairs
• stairway
• stairwell

Translations

single step

• Bashkir: баҫҡыс (baśqıs), баҫма (baśma)
• Belarusian: прысту́пка f (prystúpka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臺階／台阶 (zh) (táijiē), 台阶 (zh) (táijiē)

• Finnish: porras (fi)
• French: marche (fr) f
• Georgian: საფეხური (sapexuri)
• German: Stufe (de) f, Treppenstufe (de) f
• Hungarian: lépcsőfok (hu)
• Icelandic: trappa (is), þrep (is)
• Japanese: 石段 (ja) (いしだん, ishidan) (on stone steps), 段 (ja) (だん, dan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: trinn n
• Persian: پله (fa) (pelle)
• Portuguese: degrau (pt) m
• Romanian: treaptă (ro)
• Russian: ступе́нька (ru) f (stupénʹka), ступе́нь (ru) f (stupénʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: staidhre f
• Spanish: peldaño (es) m
• Swedish: trappsteg (sv) n
• Ukrainian: схі́дець m (sxídecʹ), схо́динка f (sxódynka)
• Zazaki: gam

series of steps

• Arabic: سَلَالِم m pl (salālim)
• Armenian: աստիճաններ (astičanner), սանդուղք (hy) (sanduġkʻ), (colloquially) փիլաքյան (pʻilakʻyan)
• Aromanian: scarã f
• Bashkir: баҫҡыс (baśqıs)
• Basque: eskailera
• Belarusian: ле́свіца f (ljésvica), усхо́ды pl (usxódy)
• Burmese: လှေကား (my) (hleka:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樓梯／楼梯 (zh) (lóutī), 楼梯 (zh) (lóutī)

• Czech: schody, schodiště (cs)
• Danish: trappe (da)
• Dutch: trap (nl)
• Estonian: trepp
• Faroese: trappa f
• Finnish: portaat (fi), portaikko
• French: escalier (fr), volée (fr) f
• Georgian: კიბე (ḳibe)
• German: Treppe (de) f
• Greek: σκάλα (el) f (skála), κλίμακα (el) f (klímaka)
• Greenlandic: majuartarfiit pl
• Hebrew: מדרגות, מדרגה (he) f (madregá)
• Hungarian: lépcső (hu), lépcsősor (hu)
• Icelandic: stigi (is), tröppur pl, þrep (is) pl
• Igbo: ǹkwà
• Indonesian: tangga (id)
• Italian: scala (it) f
• Japanese: 階段 (ja) (かいだん, kaidan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: កាំជណ្ដើរ (kam cŭəndaə)
• Korean: 계단 (ko) (gyedan)
• Lao: ບັນໄດ (ban dai)
• Latvian: kāpnes (lv) m
• Lithuanian: laiptinė f
• Macedonian: ска́ла f (skála)
• Malay:

  Jawi: تڠݢ

  Rumi: tangga

• Mongolian: шат (mn) (šat)
• Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: trapp (no) m or f
• Occitan: escalièr (oc)
• Persian: پلکان (fa) (pellekân)
• Portuguese: escada (pt) f
• Romanian: scară (ro) f
• Romansch: stgala f
• Russian: ле́стница (ru) f (léstnica), ступе́ньки f pl (stupénʹki)
• Sardinian: iscala f, issaba f, scaba f, iscalera
• Scottish Gaelic: staidhre f
• Serbo-Croatian: stubište (sh) f
• Spanish: escalera (es) f
• Swedish: trappa (sv)
• Thai: บันได (th) (ban-dai), กระได (th) (grà-dai)
• Ukrainian: схо́ди pl (sxódy)
• Venetian: scała f
• Vietnamese: cầu thang (vi)

See also

• ladder
• landing

Anagrams

• ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, airts, arist, astir, sitar, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar

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Irish

Etymology

From Latin historia. Doublet of stór.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sˠt̪ˠaɾʲ]

Noun

stair f (genitive singular staire, nominative plural startha)

1. history
2. account, story
3. (literary) repute, fame

Declension

Declension of stair

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative stair startha Vocative a stair a startha Genitive staire startha Dative stair startha

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an stair na startha Genitive na staire na startha Dative leis an stair don stair leis na startha

Derived terms

• bréagstair
• stairiúil

 

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “stair”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “stair”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “stair”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024