Added 9 October 2026
step
/stɛp/ noun
In Latin: passus, gradus Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about step at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
- A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.
- The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest.
verb
-
To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession. To don with a stepping action.
He stepped into his pants.
-
To don with a stepping action.
He stepped into his pants.
-
To walk; to go (on foot, especially) a little distance.
Come one, come all. Step right up!
noun
- A stepchild.
- A stepsibling.
Origin
From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną (“to step”), *stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”). Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), Walloon steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать (stupatʹ) and Polish stopień (“step, stair, rung, degree”), Russian степень (stepenʹ). Related to stamp, stomp.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)