Word.ws English Dictionary

stean

/stiːn/

stean noun: a vessel made of clay or stone; a pot of stone or earth.

Noun (1)

stean (plural steans)

  1. A vessel made of clay or stone; a pot of stone or earth.

Verb

stean (third-person singular simple present steans, present participle steaning, simple past and past participle steaned)

  1. To pelt with stones; throw stones at; stone.
  2. To fit with stones; mend, line, pave, etc. with stones.
    • to stean a well

Noun (2)

stean (plural steans)

  1. A wall of brick, stone, or cement, used as a lining, as of a well, cistern, etc.; a steening.

Noun (3)

stean (plural steans)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A stone.
  2. (UK, dialectal) A large box of stones used for pressing cheese; a cheese-press.

Forms of stean

Noun
pluralsteans
Verb
third-person singular presentsteans
present participlesteaning
past participlesteaned
paststeaned
alternative formsteen
alternative formsteyn

Origin of stean

From Middle English stene (“waterpot”), from Old English stǣna (“stone jug, a stean, a pot of stone or earth”) and Old English stǣne (“pitcher, jug”), from Proto-West Germanic *stainijā, from Proto-Germanic *stainijǭ (“stonen vessel, crucible”). Cognate with Old High German steinna (“pot, saucepan”). Doublet of stein.

From Middle English stenen, from Old English stǣnan (“to stone, cast stones at; adorn with precious stones”), from Proto-West Germanic *stainijan, from Proto-Germanic *stainijaną (“to adorn with stones”), *stainōną (“to throw stones at”). Cognate with Old High German steinen (“to adorn with stones”), Old High German steinōn (“to throw stones”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (stainjan, “to throw stones at”).

Inherited from Northern Middle English stan, stane (“stone”); thus a dialectal form of stone.

Words formed from stean

  • stean-pot

Words that rhyme with stean

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stean

What does stean mean?
Stean means a vessel made of clay or stone; a pot of stone or earth.
What part of speech is stean?
Stean can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce stean?
Stean is pronounced /stiːn/.
What is the plural of stean?
The plural of stean is steans.

Words near stean in the dictionary

  1. steamtug
  2. steamtugs
  3. steamway
  4. steamways
  5. steamy
  6. stean
  7. steaned
  8. steaning
  9. steanings
  10. steans
  11. steapsin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stean (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “stean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.