stair

CEFRA1

/stɛɚ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    One step in a set used to go up or down.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A series of steps; a staircase.

Examples

  • After the accident, he was physically challenged by even a single stair.

  • Lady Stair was obliged to consent to an interview between Lord Rutherford and her daughter.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /steː/
  • /stiə/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A surname.

  2. A single step in a staircase.

More examples

In context

  • Tom placed her shoes on the bottom stair.

  • Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He tripped on the top blank and fell down the entire flight.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English steire, staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English stǣġer (“stair, staircase”), from Proto-West Germanic *staigri, from Proto-Germanic *staigriz (“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to walk, proceed, march, climb”). Cognate with Dutch steiger (“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir (“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger (“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English āstǣġan (“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English stīġan (“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege (“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.