"S" Word Origins

Steph

French

Female: shortened from Stephanie, from French Stéphanie. Male: shortened from Stephan.

Stephan

Greek

From Greek Stephanos, meaning "crown" or "wreath."

stephane

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek stephanos, "crown" or "wreath" — the same root that gives us the name Stephen.

Stephanie

French

Borrowed from French Stéphanie, itself from the Greek stephanos, "crown."

Stephen

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Stéphanos, meaning "crown" or "wreath," via Latin Stephanus.

Stephens

Origin

From the given name Stephen + the patronymic suffix -s.

Stephie

Origin

From Steph + -ie.

stepmeal

Origin

From Middle English *stepmele, *stapmele, from Old English stæpmǣlum (“step by step; gradually, by degrees”), equivalent to step + -meal.

stepmom

Origin

A casual blend of "step-" (a family relationship formed through remarriage rather than blood) and "mom."

steppe

French

From Russian step, "flat grassy plain," borrowed into English via German or French.

stepping

Middle English

From step plus the -ing suffix, going back to Middle English steppynge.

stepsister

Origin

From step- (used for family members gained through remarriage) plus sister.

stepson

Old English

From Old English steopsunu, combining step- (gained through remarriage) with son.

stereo

Greek

A shortening of stereophonic or stereotype, ultimately from Greek stereos, meaning "solid."

stereotype

French · 1922

Borrowed from French stéréotype, originally a printing term for a solid metal plate; the "oversimplified idea about a group" sense dates to Walter Lippmann's 1922 book Public Opinion.

stereotyper

Origin

From stereotype + -er.

stereotypical

Origin

From stereotype plus the adjective-forming suffix -ical.

stereotypy

Origin

Borrowed from French stéréotypie, from stéréotype + -ie. By surface analysis, stereotype + -y (suffix forming abstract nouns).

sterile

Latin

From Latin sterilis, meaning "barren" or "unproductive."

sterileness

Origin

From sterile + -ness.

sterility

Latin

From Latin sterilitas, built on sterilis ("barren").

sterilization

Origin

From sterile plus the suffix -ization.

sterilize

Origin

From sterile plus the verb-forming suffix -ize.

sterling

Old English

Possibly from Old English steorra ("star"), referring to the small star design once stamped on English silver pennies.

stern

Old English

From Old English styrne ("severe, strict"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "angry" or "shocked."

sternum

New Latin

Borrowed from New Latin sternum, related to an Old English word for "forehead."

sternutation

Origin

Latin sternutatio.

steroid

Origin

Formed from sterol plus the suffix -oid ("resembling"); sterol itself traces back to cholesterol.

stertor

Origin

From Latin stertō (“to snore”).

stethoscope

French

Borrowed from French stéthoscope, coined by the physician René Laennec, who invented the device.

Stetson

Origin · 1860

Named after John B. Stetson, the American hat maker whose company popularized the style from the 1860s onward.

Steve

Origin

The sky-phenomenon sense began as a jokey placeholder name given by citizen scientists before it was retrofitted into the backronym "Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement."

stevedore

Origin

From Spanish estibador (cognate with Portuguese estivador, and compare Medieval Latin stivator), from estivar, estibar (“to load”), from Medieval Latin stivare, stīpāre (compare Italian stivare, stipare), the present active infinitive of stīpō (“to cram, fill, stuff”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *steypos, which is from the root Proto-Indo-European *steyp-. It is cognate with stiff through Proto-Indo-European. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was attested in 1788 in the early form stowadore (see the quotations). It was included in the 1st edition of Webster’s Dictionary (1828) as stevedore.

Steven

Old English

From Old English stefn, meaning "voice," unrelated in origin to the given name Steven, which comes instead from Greek Stephanos ("crown").

Stevie

Origin

From Steve + -ie.

stew

Old French

From Old French estuve, meaning a bathhouse or steam room, later shifted to mean slow cooking.

steward

Old English

From Old English stigweard, combining stig ("hall" or "enclosure") with weard ("guardian"); the same root as "ward."

stewardess

Origin

From steward plus the feminine suffix -ess.

stewardship

English

From Old English 'stigweard', literally 'hall keeper' or 'house guardian', plus the suffix '-ship' denoting a state or office.

stewardson

Origin

Patronymic surname meaning "son of the steward".

Stewart

Old English

From Old English stigweard, meaning "keeper of the hall" or "steward."

stewed

Origin

From stew plus the past-tense suffix -ed.

Stewie

Origin

Clipping of Stewart + -ie.

STFU

English

An initialism of "shut the fuck up", from internet and text-message shorthand.

STG

English

An initialism of "swear to God"; the currency sense is a contraction of "sterling".

sticharion

Origin

From Ancient Greek στιχάριον (stikhárion).

stick

Old English

From Old English sticca ("rod, twig"), related to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to pierce" — the same root behind "stigma."

stickable

Origin

From stick + -able.