stepmother

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A viola, especially Viola tricolor, heartsease.

   The second came up about ten days later in the lee of the channel marker, and it was called stepmother, or love-in-idelness.

2. 2
   noun

   the wife of your father by a subsequent marriage

3. 3
   noun

   The wife of one's biological father, other than one's biological mother.

Etymology

From Middle English stepmoder, from Old English stēopmōdor, from Proto-Germanic *steupamōdēr (“stepmother”), corresponding to step- + mother. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stäifmuur (“stepmother”), Dutch stiefmoeder (“stepmother”), German Low German Steevmoder (“stepmother”), German Stiefmutter (“stepmother”), Danish stedmor (“stepmother”), Swedish styvmor (“stepmother”), Icelandic stjúpmóðir (“stepmother”). Compare also West Frisian styfmem (“stepmother”).