stepson

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stepsone,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English stēopsunu,^[4][3][5][6] inherited from Proto-Germanic *steupasunuz,^[7][1] a compound of *steupaz (“orphaned, bereaved”) and *sunuz (“son”).^[7][8] The OED takes it as cognate with, or formed in the same way as, Old Frisian stiāpsune, Middle Dutch stiefsone, Old Saxon stēfsun, Old High German stiofsun (modern German Stiefsohn), Old Norse stjúpsonr, Swedish styvson and Danish stifsøn.^[9][5][4] In Old English the first element also appears in stēopcild (“orphan”),^[5][3] and in the verbs astiepan and bestiepan, to bereave of parents or children, so its first sense is taken to have been loss.^[3] Watkins, as Etymonline reports, derives it from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teu- (“to push, stick, knock”), but Boutkan finds no Indo-European etymology for it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A son of one's husband or wife by an earlier marriage: the first record is in the Corpus Glossary, of the early 8th century.^[10][9] Old English glossaries use it to translate Latin privignus and filiaster, and the Old English Orosius says "Hé ofslóh his steópsunu", he killed his stepson.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same since Old English.^[9][2] In Middle English the word also appears in surnames.^[2] Recent dictionaries widen the definition from a former marriage to a former partner or relationship,^[9][4] where the 1989 edition of the OED spoke only of a former marriage.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 725 – a son of one's spouse by an earlier marriage, in the Corpus Glossary.^[10][9]
• c. 1225 – the Middle English form stepsune, in a copy of Ælfric's Glossary.^[2]
• c. 1275 – in Laȝamon's Brut: "Yuor wes his step-sune".^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A son of one's husband or wife by an earlier marriage or relationship: Her stepson came to live with them when he was ten.^[11][4][9]

Related words

• stepbrother
• stepdaughter
• stepfather
• stepmother
• stepsister
• son
• stepchild

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins