steppe

Etymology

It is borrowed from Russian степь (stepʹ),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} or Ukrainian степ (step),^[7][1] first as step in 1671;^[6] the spelling steppe (1762) comes through German Steppe,^[6][4] and the OED compares French steppe.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary traces the Russian word to an Old Russian word meaning lowland,^[8] a sense Collins also gives.^[9] Its further origin is unknown,^{[4][10][8][6]} and Wiktionary notes a speculative reconstruction meaning "trampled, bare place".^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the vast, fairly level and treeless plains of south-eastern Europe and Siberia: before 1670, in Samuel Collins's Present State of Russia, printed in 1671.^[2][6][11]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline says the word was spread in Western Europe by von Humboldt in the early 19th century and extended to any large treeless plain;^[4] this transferred sense is recorded in English from 1837, in Washington Irving.^[2][3] In geography it also names dry grassland with drought-resistant plants in regions of extreme temperature,^[11] and it is compared with prairie and pampas.^[9][11]

Timeline

• before 1670 – a vast treeless plain of south-eastern Europe or Siberia, first as step.^[2][6]
• 1762 – the spelling steppe.^[6]
• 1837 – any extensive, usually treeless plain.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. One of the vast, level, mostly treeless grasslands of south-eastern Europe and Asia; often in the plural, the steppes.^[9][11][2]
2. Any similar extensive treeless plain elsewhere.^[2][3][12]
3. Dry land with drought-resistant vegetation in a region of extreme temperatures.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt