The story
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bistapjaną“to enter”
- Old English · inherited frombesteppan“to tread upon, step, go, enter”
- Middle English · inherited frombisteppen
- English todaybestep
From Middle English bisteppen, from Old English besteppan (“to tread upon, step, go, enter”), from Proto-Germanic *bistapjaną (“to enter”), equivalent to be- + step. Cognate with Dutch bestappen.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.