steppe

See also: Steppe

English

Etymology

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

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /stɛp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛp
• Homophone: step

Noun

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.

Usage notes

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

• forest steppe
• mammoth steppe
• shrubsteppe
• steppe bison
• steppe cat
• steppe eagle
• steppe fox
• steppe lemming
• steppe lion
• steppe mammoth
• steppe murrain
• steppe-tundra
• steppe vole
• steppe wisent
• steppic

 

Translations

the grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia

• Akkadian: 𒂔𒈾 (ṣēru) (), 𒂔 (ṣēru) ()
• Arabic: مَرْعَى f (marʕā), سْتِيب m (steb), سْتِيب m (stīb)
• Armenian: տափաստան (hy) (tapʻastan)
• Azerbaijani: çöl (az)
• Bashkir: дала (dala)
• Belarusian: стэп f (step)
• Bulgarian: степ (bg) f (step)
• Catalan: estepa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 草原 (zh) (cǎoyuán), 乾草原／干草原 (gāncǎoyuán)

• Crimean Tatar: çöl
• Czech: step (cs) f
• Danish: steppe (da) c
• Esperanto: stepo (eo)
• Finnish: aro (fi)
• French: steppe (fr) f
• Georgian: ველი (veli)
• German: Steppe (de) f
• Greek: στέπα (el) (stépa)
• Hindi: स्तपी (stapī)
• Hungarian: sztyepp (hu), sztyeppe (hu)
• Icelandic: gresja (is) f, steppa f
• Italian: steppa (it)
• Japanese: ステップ (ja) (suteppu), 草原 (ja) (そうげん, sōgen)
• Kazakh: дала (dala), сахара (saxara)
• Korean: 스텝 (ko) (seutep)
• Kyrgyz: талаа (ky) (talaa), чөл (ky) (cöl)
• Lithuanian: stèpė f
• Macedonian: степа f (stepa)
• Mongolian: хээр тал (xeer tal), тал (mn) (tal), тал нутаг (tal nutag), хээр (mn) (xeer),
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: steppe (no) m

  Nynorsk: steppe (no) f

• Occitan: estèpa f
• Ottoman Turkish: قیر (kır)
• Persian: استپ (fa) (estep)
• Polish: step (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: estepe (pt) f
• Romanian: stepă (ro) f
• Russian: степь (ru) f (stepʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: stȅpa (sh) f, сте̏па f
• Slovak: step f
• Slovene: stepa (sl) f
• Southern Altai: чӧл (čöl)
• Spanish: estepa (es) f
• Sumerian: 𒂔 (EDIN)
• Swedish: stäpp (sv) c
• Tatar: дала (tt) (dala)
• Turkish: bozkır (tr), step (tr)
• Turkmen: sähra (tk)
• Tuvan: хову (xovu)
• Ukrainian: степ m (step)
• Urum: чӧль (čölʹ)
• Uyghur: دەشت (desht)
• Uzbek: dasht (uz), choʻl (uz)
• Vietnamese: thảo nguyên (vi) (草原)

vast cold, dry grass-plains

• Armenian: տափաստան (hy) (tapʻastan)
• German: Steppe (de) f
• Japanese: 草原 (ja) (そうげん, sōgen)
• Macedonian: степа f (stepa)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: estepe (pt) f
• Russian: степь (ru) f (stepʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: stȅpa (sh) f
• Swedish: stäpp (sv) c
• Welsh: gwaun f, gweundir m, paith m, stepdir m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} steppa (it) f
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 대초원 (daechowon)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} estepa (es) f

See also

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

References

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “степ”, in Етимологічний словник української мови (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka

Further reading

• steppe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Estepp

Danish

Noun

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

1. steppe (large treeless grass plain)

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɛpə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: step‧pe
• Rhymes: -ɛpə

Noun

steppe f (plural steppes, diminutive steppetje n)

1. steppe

Derived terms

• steppehoen
• steppekiekendief
• steppekievit
• steppenroller

French

Etymology

From Russian степь (stepʹ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɛp/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

steppe f (plural steppes)

1. steppe

Derived terms

• aigle des steppes

Descendants

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

Further reading

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

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃtɛpə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

steppe

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

Italian

Noun

steppe f

1. plural of steppa

Middle English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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.

Descendants

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

References

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

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

1. steppe (large treeless grass plain)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

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

1. steppe (large treeless grass plain)

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstep.pe/

Verb

steppe

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