steppen

steppen c

1. definite singular of steppe

From Middle High German steppen, itself either borrowed from Old Saxon steppon (“to pierce, mark with stitches”) or inherited from a Central German cognate of the same. Closely related with stippen, which see.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃtɛpən/

steppen (weak, third-person singular present steppt, past tense steppte, past participle gesteppt, auxiliary haben)

1. to sew a straight seam with narrow stitches
2. (by extension) to quilt

Early 20th century, from English step. Either directly from the verb or by backformation from Stepptanz, from English step dance.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃtɛpən/, (less often) /ˈstɛpən/

steppen (weak, third-person singular present steppt, past tense steppte, past participle gesteppt, auxiliary haben)

1. to step-dance, (especially) to tap-dance

• der Bär steppt

• Stepptanz

• stappen, stapen, stopen, stappe, stap

From Old English stæppan, steppan, from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɛpən/, /ˈstapən/

steppen (ambitransitive)

1. To step; to place one's foot down.
2. To step onto; to lift one's foot onto a higher place.
3. To go; to walk or move:
   1. To go to a specified location; to travel or take oneself.
   2. (figurative) To move onwards; to keep doing something .

This verb tends to become weak in later Middle English.

• steppe
• steppyng

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

• “steppen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 22 October 2018.

steppen m

1. definite singular of steppe