Word.ws English Dictionary

step-

UK/stɛp-/

step- prefix: a prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, and so forth, to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative but is related through the marriage of a parent.

Prefix

step-

  1. A prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, and so forth, to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative but is related through the marriage of a parent.

step- meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Gujarati

step- in Hindi

prefix used to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative
सौतेला sautelā, सौतेली sautelī

step- in Marathi

step-
सावत्र sāvatra
step-, half-
सावत्र sāvatra

step- in Urdu

step-, half-
سوتیلا sautelā

step- in Gujarati

prefix used to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative
ઓરમાન oramān, અપર apar, સાવકું sāvkũ, ઓરમાઈ oramāī
More languagesFewer languages
step- in Malay
tiri
step- in Indonesian
tiri

Origin of step-

From Middle English step-, from Old English stēop- (“deprived of a relative, step-”, prefix), from Proto-West Germanic *steupa-, from Proto-Germanic *steupa- (“orphaned, step-”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push, strike”). Cognate with Scots step- (“step-”), West Frisian stiep- (“step-”), Dutch stief- (“step-”), Low German steef- (“step-”), German stief- (“step-”), Swedish styv- (“step-”), Icelandic stjúp- (“step-”). Related to Old English stīepan (“to deprive, bereave”). Not, however, related to the familiar English noun or verb step.

Questions about step-

What does step- mean?
Step- means a prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, and so forth, to indicate that the person being identified is not a blood relative but is related through the marriage of a parent.
What is step- in Hindi?
Step- in Hindi is सौतेला (sautelā), सौतेली (sautelī). See Step- meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is step-?
Step- is a prefix.
How do you pronounce step-?
Step- is pronounced /stɛp-/ (UK).

Words near step- in the dictionary

  1. step to
  2. step up
  3. step up on
  4. step up one's game
  5. step up to the plate
  6. step-
  7. step-aunt
  8. step-aunts
  9. step-brethren
  10. step-brother
  11. step-brothers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: step- (page history and authors); सावत्र (Marathi) (page history and authors); سوتیلا (Urdu) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-step.ogg.

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