step

Step– is a prefix denoting family members by remarriage rather than blood. It is occasionally used in kinship terms.

Step– comes from Old English stēop-, of the same meaning above, and is not related to the verb step, with the sense “to go by lifting the foot.” In Old English, stéopbearn means “orphan” and is connected to the verb āstēpan, meaning “to bereave.” Essentially, in Old English, a stepfather is one who has become a father to an orphan.

An example of a term that features the prefix step– is stepbrother, “one’s stepfather’s son or stepmother’s son by a previous marriage.” Stepbrother comes from the Middle English word that uses the equivalent of step– in that language.

The form step– denotes a relationship by remarriage. The element –brother, from Old English brōthor, means “brother,” as in “a male sibling.” Stepbrother literally means “brother from remarriage.”

What are some words that use the equivalent of the combining form step– in Middle or Old English?

• stepchild
• stepfather
• stepmother
• stepsister

What are some other forms that step– may be commonly confused with?

• stego-
• stetho-

Not every word that begins with the exact letters step-, such as e.g., steptoe or stepper, is necessarily using the prefix step– to denote “family member by remarriage.” Learn why steptoe means “an isolated hill surrounded by lava” at our entry for the word.

Given the meaning of the prefix step-, what does stepparent mean?