stepsister C2+ Topic:Family & Relationships 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 stepbrotherstepmotherstepchildsister Etymology AI details 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 Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # 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 markdown