Stehgreif

German

Etymology

The word is interpreted by many speakers as a compound of stehen (“to stand”) + greifen (“to grab”), that is “something one grabs [from one’s ideas] wherever one is standing”. This popular etymology is seen not only in the misspelling, but in the predominant pronunciation [ˈʃteːˌgʁaɪ̯f].

Noun

Stehgreif

1. Misspelling of Stegreif (“improvisation”).