step-

See also: step, štep, stęp, and STEP

English

Etymology

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

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

English terms prefixed with step-

Translations

prefix used to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative

• Armenian: խորթ (hy) (xortʻ)
• Azerbaijani: ögey
• Bashkir: үгәй (ügəy)
• Catalan: -astre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 后 (zh) (hòu), 表 (zh) (biǎo)

• Crimean Tatar: ögey
• Danish: sted-
• Dutch: stief- (e.g. stiefdochter, stiefmoeder, stiefvader, stiefzoon)
• Faroese: stjúk-
• Finnish: -puoli (fi) (e.g. velipuoli)
• French: beau- (fr), bel-, belle- (fr)
• German: stief- (de)
• Hebrew: חורג (he) m (chorég), חורגת f (choréget)
• Hindi: सौतेला (hi) (sautelā), सौतेली (sautelī)
• Icelandic: stjúp-
• Ido: stif-, stifa (io)
• Indonesian: tiri (id)
• Irish: leas-
• Italian: -astro (it) m, astra f, -astra f
• Javanese: kuwalon (jv)
• Kazakh: өгей (ögei)
• Maori: whakaangi
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: ӧгай (ögaj)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ste-

  Nynorsk: ste-

• Old Norse: stjúp-
• Portuguese: -asto m, -asta f
• Romanian: vitreg (ro)
• Russian: (no prefix exists, there are special words), сво́дный (ru) (svódnyj) (for siblings)
• Spanish: -astro m, -astra f
• Swahili: kambo
• Swedish: styv- (sv)
• Tatar: үги (tt) (ügi)
• Turkish: üvey (tr)
• Turkmen: öweý
• Yiddish: שטיפֿ־ (shtif-)

References

• “step-”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• EPTs, ESTP, PETs, Pest, Sept, Sept., TPEs, Teps, pest, pets, sept, sept-, spet

Middle English

Alternative forms

• stip-, styp-, ste-, steppe-, stappe-, steop-

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɛp-/

Prefix

step-

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

Derived terms

Middle English terms prefixed with step-

Descendants

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

References

• “step-, combining element”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.