stair

See also: Stair

English

Stair in Opéra Garnier (Paris)

Stair of a building in Bucharest (Romania)

Etymology

From Middle English steire, staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English stǣġer (“stair, staircase”), from Proto-Germanic *staigriz (“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to walk, proceed, march, climb”). Cognate with Dutch steiger (“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir (“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger (“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English āstǣġan (“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English stīġan (“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege (“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /stɛɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stɛə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophone: stare

Noun

stair (plural stairs)

2. A single step in a staircase.

   Synonym: step

4. A series of steps; a staircase.
   • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:

     Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

Usage notes

• Stairs and stair are used to refer to a single staircase, mostly interchangeably in the UK.

Synonyms

• (Cockney rhyming slang) apples and pears

Derived terms

Terms derived from stair (noun)

• above-stairs
• downstairs
• forestair
• missing stair
• screw stair
• staircase
• stairgate, stair gate
• stair glider
• stair hall
• stair lift
• stair railings
• stair rod
• stairs
• stair-step
• stair-stepping
• stairway
• stairwell
• stair-wire
• stair wire
• upstairs

 

Translations

single step

• Bashkir: баҫҡыс (baśqıs), баҫма (baśma)
• Belarusian: прысту́пка f (prystúpka)
• Bulgarian: стъпало (bg) n (stǎpalo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臺階／台阶 (zh) (táijiē)

• Finnish: porras (fi)
• French: marche (fr) f
• Georgian: საფეხური (sapexuri)
• German: Stufe (de) f, Treppenstufe (de) f
• Hungarian: lépcsőfok (hu)
• Icelandic: trappa, þrep (is)
• Ido: grado (io)
• Ingrian: trappu
• Italian: scalino (it) m
• Japanese: 石段 (ja) (いしだん, ishidan) (on stone steps), 段 (ja) (だん, dan)
• Latin: gradus (la) m
• Lithuanian: laiptas m
• Norwegian: trinn n
• Persian: پله (fa) (pelle)
• Polish: stopień (pl) m
• Portuguese: degrau (pt) m
• Punjabi: پَوڑی f (pauṛī)
• Romanian: treaptă (ro)
• Russian: ступе́нька (ru) f (stupénʹka), ступе́нь (ru) f (stupénʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: staidhre f
• Spanish: peldaño (es) m
• Swedish: trappsteg (sv) n
• Turkish: merdiven (tr) sg
• Ukrainian: схі́дець m (sxídecʹ), схо́динка f (sxódynka)
• Zazaki: gam

series of steps

• Arabic: سَلَالِم m pl (salālim)
• Armenian: աստիճաններ (astičanner), սանդուղք (hy) (sanduġkʻ), (colloquially) փիլաքյան (pʻilakʻyan)
• Aromanian: scarã f
• Bashkir: баҫҡыс (baśqıs)
• Basque: eskailera
• Belarusian: ле́свіца f (ljésvica), усхо́ды pl (usxódy)
• Bulgarian: стълбище n (stǎlbište)
• Burmese: လှေကား (my) (hleka:)
• Cebuano: hagdanan
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樓梯／楼梯 (zh) (lóutī)

• Czech: schody, schodiště (cs)
• Danish: trappe (da)
• Dutch: trap (nl)
• Esperanto: ŝtuparo
• Estonian: trepp (et)
• Faroese: trappa f
• Finnish: portaat (fi), portaikko (fi)
• French: escalier (fr), volée (fr) f
• Georgian: კიბე (ka) (ḳibe)
• German: Treppe (de) f
• Greek: σκάλα (el) f (skála), κλίμακα (el) f (klímaka)
• Greenlandic: majuartarfiit pl
• Hebrew: מדרגות, מדרגה (he) f (madregá)
• Higaonon: hagadan
• Hungarian: lépcső (hu), lépcsősor (hu)
• Icelandic: stigi (is), tröppur pl, þrep (is) pl
• Ido: eskalero (io)
• Igbo: ǹkwà (ig)
• Indonesian: tangga (id)
• Ingrian: traput
• Iranun: tuak
• Italian: scala (it) f
• Japanese: 階段 (ja) (かいだん, kaidan)
• Kazakh: баспалдақ (baspaldaq)
• Khmer: កាំជណ្ដើរ (kam cŭəndaə)
• Korean: 계단 (ko) (gyedan)
• Kyrgyz: тепкич (ky) (tepkic)
• Lao: ບັນໄດ (ban dai)
• Latvian: kāpnes (lv) m
• Lithuanian: laiptinė f, laiptai m pl
• Livonian: strepīd pl
• Macedonian: ска́ла f (skála)
• Malay:

  Jawi: تڠݢ

  Rumi: tangga (ms)

• Maori: arawhata, arapiki
• Mongolian: шат (mn) (šat)
• Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: trapp (no) m or f
• Occitan: escalièr (oc)
• Ottoman Turkish: نردبان (nerdiban)
• Persian: پلکان (fa) (pellekân)
• Portuguese: escada (pt) f
• Punjabi: پَوڑیاں f pl (pauṛeyāṉ)
• Romanian: scară (ro) f
• Romansch: stgala f
• Russian: ле́стница (ru) f (léstnica), ступе́ньки f pl (stupénʹki)
• Sardinian: iscala f, issaba f, scaba f, iscalera
• Scottish Gaelic: staidhre f
• Serbo-Croatian: stubište (sh) f
• Slovak: schodisko, schody m pl
• Spanish: escalera (es) f
• Swedish: trappa (sv)
• Thai: บันได (th) (ban-dai), กระได (th) (grà-dai)
• Turkish: merdiven (tr)
• Ukrainian: схо́ди (uk) pl (sxódy)
• Venetian: scała f
• Vietnamese: cầu thang (vi)

See also

• ladder
• landing
• scaffold

Anagrams

• ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, Sitar, Trias, airts, arist, astir, sitar, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish stoir, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā). Doublet of stór.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sˠt̪ˠaɾʲ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /sˠt̪ˠæɾʲ/

Noun

stair f (genitive singular staire, nominative plural startha)

1. history
2. account, story
3. (literary) repute, fame

Declension

Declension of stair

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative stair startha Vocative a stair a startha Genitive staire startha Dative stair startha

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an stair na startha Genitive na staire na startha Dative leis an stair don stair leis na startha

Derived terms

• bréagstair
• stairiúil

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “stair”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “stair”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “stair”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
• Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 32