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
- A single movement of raising one foot and putting it down elsewhere, as in walking; a pace.
- A manner of walking; a gait; the sound of a footstep.
- A support for the foot in going up or down; a stair or rung.
- One of a series of actions taken to reach a goal.
- A stage or degree in a scale or process.
- A pattern of movements in a dance.
Verb
- To put the foot down; to walk a short distance.
- To move into a new situation as if by a step: step down, step in.
- 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
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ 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
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)