stepsister

US /ˈstɛpˌsɪstɚ/ UK /ˈstɛpˌsɪstə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a daughter of one's stepparent by an earlier marriage

In the tale, the stepsisters mocked Cinderella mercilessly.

Thesaurus

Word family

Related forms stepbrother stepmother stepchild sister

Etymology

A compound of the prefix 'step-' (Old English 'stēop-', by remarriage) and 'sister' (from Old Norse 'systir', replacing Old English 'sweostor').

stēop- Old English systir Old Norse

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Family & Relationships Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# stepsister

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈstɛpˌsɪstɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈstɛpˌsɪstə/

## Meanings
1. a daughter of one's stepparent by an earlier marriage

## Examples
- In the tale, the stepsisters mocked Cinderella mercilessly.

## Related Forms
- stepbrother
- stepmother
- stepchild
- sister

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: stēop-
- Root: systir

## Etymology
A compound of the prefix 'step-' (Old English 'stēop-', by remarriage) and 'sister' (from Old Norse 'systir', replacing Old English 'sweostor').

## AI Etymology
Stepsister is a compound of the prefix 'step-' (Old English 'stēop-', by remarriage) and 'sister' (from Old Norse 'systir', replacing Old English 'sweostor'). Important recorded forms include stēop- (Old English) and systir (Old Norse). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense continues the older lexical line without requiring a separate origin. In current use it covers a daughter of one's stepparent by an earlier marriage. The wider family includes related words such as stepbrother, stepmother, stepchild, and sister.

## Topics
- Family & Relationships
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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