Stephen
/ˈstiːvən/
Stephen proper noun: the first Christian martyr.
Proper noun
Stephen
- The first Christian martyr.
- And Steuen full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 6:8
- A male given name from Ancient Greek.
- I, for my part, ask any candid reader if it was not bad enough to be called Broadfoot, without having it aggravated into Stephen Broadfoot? I feel confident I will here get a tear of sympathy from all unhappy Andrews and Peters, and Aarons and Samuels, with a smile of disdainful compassion from...1852, William Harrison Ainsworth, “Tale of a Carpet-Bag”, in Ainsworth's Magazine, volume 21, page 17
- It is doubtless true that American English lacks a tradition for the pronunciation of Anthony, a name which was not often bestowed upon American males until the comparatively recent craze for supposedly swank "British" Christian names, like Stephen, Peter, Michael, etc., in this country.1952, Thomas Pyles, Words and Ways of American English, Random House, page 245
- A female given name.
- Even in her fourteenth year Miss Stephen Norman gave promise of striking beauty; beauty of a rarely composite character.1905, Bram Stoker, The Man
- A surname originating as a patronymic.
- A minor city in Marshall County, Minnesota, United States, named after George Stephen.
Stephen meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Arabic
Stephen in Hindi
- male given name
- स्टीवन sṭīvan
- biblical martyr
- स्तिफ़नुस stifanus
Stephen in Urdu
- male given name
- سٹیون sṭīvan
Stephen in Sanskrit
- male given name
- स्टीफन् sṭīphan
Stephen in Arabic
- male given name
- إِصْتِفَان ʔiṣtifān, سْتِيفِن stīfin
- biblical martyr
- إِسْطِفَانُوس ʔisṭifānūs, اِسْتِفَانُوس istifānūs
More languagesFewer languages
- Stephen in Persian
- استیون estiven, استفان estefân
- Stephen in Vietnamese
- Xtê-phen, Stêphanô
Examples of Stephen in a sentence
- I, for my part, ask any candid reader if it was not bad enough to be called Broadfoot, without having it aggravated into Stephen Broadfoot?1852, William Harrison Ainsworth, “Tale of a Carpet-Bag”, in Ainsworth's Magazine, volume 21, page 17:
- I thought that ideally it should be a name which could work whether he was serious and reserved or butch, a name like Stephen which could be Steve or David which could be Dave.2000, Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai, Miramax Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 142:
- As part of the listing, the company is seeking to create a third class of shares that would give Thiel, Karp and fellow cofounder Stephen Cohen “49.999999%” of the total voting power.2020 August 25, Sara Ashley O'Brien and Rachel Metz, “Palantir files paperwork to go public and reveals it has never turned a profit”, in...
- Stephen, her cousin, plonked his own posterior on the throne.2023 December 27, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: the way to Weymouth”, in RAIL, number 999, page 52:
Forms of Stephen
| alternative form | Steven |
|---|
Origin of Stephen
From Latin Stephanus, from Ancient Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos), from στέφανος (stéphanos, “crown, wreath”), from στέφω (stéphō, “to put round, to surround”). From *stegʷʰ- (“to enlace”) + -νος (-nos, suffix forming an adjective or noun) from Proto-Indo-European *-nós (suffix forming a verbal adjective from a verb stem).
Words formed from Stephen
Phrases with Stephen
Words that rhyme with Stephen
Questions about Stephen
- What does Stephen mean?
- Stephen means the first Christian martyr.
- What is Stephen in Hindi?
- Stephen in Hindi is स्टीवन (sṭīvan), स्तिफ़नुस (stifanus). See Stephen meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use Stephen in a sentence?
- I, for my part, ask any candid reader if it was not bad enough to be called Broadfoot, without having it aggravated into Stephen Broadfoot?
- What part of speech is Stephen?
- Stephen is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Stephen?
- Stephen is pronounced /ˈstiːvən/.
Words near Stephen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Stephen (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:
Cite this entry: “Stephen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stephen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.