steppe

From German Steppe or French steppe, in turn from Russian степь (stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”). There is no generally accepted earlier etymology, but there is a speculative Old East Slavic reconstruction *сътепь (sŭtepĭ, “trampled place, flat, bare”), related to топот (topot), топтать (toptatĭ).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /stɛp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛp
• Homophone: step

steppe (countable and uncountable, plural steppes)

1. The grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia. Similar to (North American) prairie and (African) savanna. [from 1671]
   • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Preliminary”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 3:

     Nevertheless be it remarked, that even a Russian steppe has tumuli and gold ornaments […]

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 187:

     Enkidu was the hairy man of the wild steppes, and Gilgamesh was the hero of civilization; but now the contrast is between Gilgamesh, the king, the man of political power, the heroic man of action, the extrovert, and Utnapishtim, the man of religious authority, the introvert, the sage.

2. A vast, cold, dry, grassy plain.
   • 2000, Mary Elizabeth v. N., “Steppe”, in Blue Planet Biomes‎^[1], West Tisbury Elementary School:

     Grasslands: The Steppe biome is a dry, cold, grassland that is found in all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. It is mostly found in the USA, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet and China. There isn't much humidity in the air because Steppe is located away from the ocean and close to mountain barriers.

Although it may be the steppe biome, one would not normally speak of the steppes of Canada, whereas one would speak of the steppes of Asia or the steppes of Russia.

• US prairie
• savanna
• plain
• (South African) veld
• (South American) pampa

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “степ”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka

• steppe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Estepp

steppe c (definite singular steppen, indefinite plural stepper, definite plural stepperne)

1. steppe (large treeless grass plain)

Borrowed from German Steppe or French steppe, from Russian степь (stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɛpə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: step‧pe
• Rhymes: -ɛpə

steppe f (plural steppes, diminutive steppetje n)

1. steppe

• steppehoen
• steppekiekendief
• steppekievit
• steppenroller

From Russian степь (stepʹ).

• IPA^(key): /stɛp/

• Audio:

  (file)

steppe f (plural steppes)

1. steppe

• aigle des steppes

• → Italian: steppa
• → Romanian: stepă
• → Turkish: step

• “steppe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃtɛpə/

• Audio:

  (file)

steppe

1. inflection of steppen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

steppe f

1. plural of steppa

• stap, stape, steape, steepe, step, stepe

From Old English stæpe, stepe, from Proto-West Germanic *stapi. The (historical) geminate is due to the influence of steppen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɛp(ə)/, /ˈstɛːp(ə)/, /ˈstap(ə)/, /ˈstaːp(ə)/

steppe (plural steppes)

1. A step, pace (movement of the foot)
2. A step or stair; an individual landing of a set of stairs.
3. An imprint or sign of something; that which something leaves as evidence:
   1. The imprint left by a step; a footprint or track.
   2. The imprint left by a thing, person or phenomenon (extant or former)
   3. (figurative) The remains left by an injury or disease.
4. The bottom region of the foot; the sole.
5. A phase, step or tier as part of a scale or process.
6. (figurative) A move, action or direction (towards an objective).
7. (rare) The length covered by a step (as a unit of length, ~2.5 feet)
8. (rare) The ground; a foothold or stepping-place.
9. (rare) A group or a thing that is part of it.

• English: step
• Scots: step, stap, stop

• “step, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-1.

steppe m (definite singular steppen, indefinite plural stepper, definite plural steppene)

1. steppe (large treeless grass plain)

steppe f (definite singular steppa, indefinite plural stepper, definite plural steppene)

1. steppe (large treeless grass plain)

• IPA^(key): /ˈstep.pe/

steppe

1. inflection of steppan:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. singular present subjunctive