step

Pronunciation

• IPA: /step/^[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English steppen, inherited from Old English steppan, West Saxon stæppan, “to take a step, move the feet as in walking”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-West Germanic *stapjan (“to tread”).^[2] Its cognates include Old Frisian stapa, Dutch stappen, Old High German stapfōn and German stapfen.^[2][4][5] The noun is Old English stæpe, stepe (“a step, footprint; a stair”).^[2][6][4] It is related to stamp.^[4][6] Watkins derives it from Proto-Indo-European *stebh- (“post, stem; to support, place firmly on”), the root of staff, comparing Old Church Slavonic stopa “step”, but Boutkan finds the group only in Germanic and gives no Indo-European etymology.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take a step, move the feet: Old English stæppan, before 899 in West Saxon,^[3] and the noun, an act of stepping, before 1023.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The verb was originally strong, with past tense stōp; the weak forms stepped appeared in the 13th century and were the only ones by the 16th.^[2][8] In late Old English the noun meant “a degree on a scale” as well as a stair or rung,^[2] and a person's manner of walking by about 1000.^[7] The distance covered by a step is from the mid-13th century, hence a unit of length of about two and a half feet.^[2] Follow in someone's steps is from the mid-13th century.^[2] An action leading towards a result is from the 1540s,^[2] or 1549,^[9] and step by step from the 1580s.^[2] Dance steps are from the 1670s and military paces from 1798.^[2] Step out, “to leave briefly”, is from the 1530s, watch your step from 1911, and step on it, “hurry”, from 1923, from the accelerator.^[2]

Timeline

• before 899 – Old English stæppan.^[3]
• before 1023 – noun, a step.^[7]
• mid-13th century – the distance of a step.^[2]
• 16th century – weak past tense stepped established.^[8][2]
• 1540s – a step towards a result.^[2]
• 1580s – step by step.^[2]
• 1670s – a dance step.^[2]
• 1923 – step on it.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A single movement of raising one foot and putting it down elsewhere, as in walking; a pace.
2. A manner of walking; a gait; the sound of a footstep.
3. A support for the foot in going up or down; a stair or rung.
4. One of a series of actions taken to reach a goal.
5. A stage or degree in a scale or process.
6. A pattern of movements in a dance.

Verb

1. To put the foot down; to walk a short distance.
2. To move into a new situation as if by a step: step down, step in.
3. To measure by pacing: step off.

Word family

• steplike
• stepped
• stepless
• corbie-step
• goose-step
• high-step
• misstep
• one-step

Related words

• stamp
• staff
• stoop
• footstep
• doorstep

Usage notes

Step as a colloquial shortening of stepmother, stepfather and the like, from 1895, belongs to the prefix step-, a different word.^[7][4]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)