steppe
English edit
Etymology edit
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).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
steppe (countable and uncountable, plural steppes)
- 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, book first, 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.
- A vast, cold, dry grass-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.
Usage notes edit
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.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also edit
References edit
- Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “степ”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
Further reading edit
Anagrams edit
Danish edit
Noun edit
steppe c (definite singular steppen, indefinite plural stepper, definite plural stepperne)
- steppe (large treeless grass plain)
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from German Steppe or French steppe, from Russian степь (stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
steppe f (plural steppes, diminutive steppetje n)
Derived terms edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
steppe f (plural steppes)
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Further reading edit
- “steppe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
steppe
- inflection of steppen:
Italian edit
Noun edit
steppe f
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old English stæpe, stepe, from Proto-West Germanic *stapi. The (historical) geminate is due to the influence of steppen.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
steppe (plural steppes)
- A step, pace (movement of the foot)
- A step or stair; an individual landing of a set of stairs.
- An imprint or sign of something; that which something leaves as evidence:
- The imprint left by a step; a footprint or track.
- The imprint left by a thing, person or phenomenon (extant or former)
- (figurative) The remains left by an injury or disease.
- The bottom region of the foot; the sole.
- A phase, step or tier as part of a scale or process.
- (figurative) A move, action or direction (towards an objective).
- (rare) The length covered by a step (as a unit of length, ~2.5 feet)
- (rare) The ground; a foothold or stepping-place.
- (rare) A group or a thing that is part of it.
Descendants edit
References edit
- “step, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-1.
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Noun edit
steppe m (definite singular steppen, indefinite plural stepper, definite plural steppene)
- steppe (large treeless grass plain)
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Noun edit
steppe f (definite singular steppa, indefinite plural stepper, definite plural steppene)
- steppe (large treeless grass plain)
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Russian
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛp
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Asia
- en:Europe
- en:Geography
- Danish lemmas
- Danish nouns
- Danish common-gender nouns
- Dutch terms borrowed from German
- Dutch terms derived from German
- Dutch terms borrowed from French
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms derived from Russian
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɛpə
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɛpə/2 syllables
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch feminine nouns
- French terms derived from Russian
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
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- French lemmas
- French nouns
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- German 2-syllable words
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- Middle English terms derived from Old English
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- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
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- enm:Anatomy
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- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk feminine nouns