Etymology

downstep

D2O1W4N1S1T1E1P3

Today it means: A downward shift of tone between the syllables or words of a tonal language. Full definition →

English step ← Middle English steppen ← Old English stæppan
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The story

  1. Englishdown-
  2. Proto-Germanic*stapiz
  3. Proto-Germanic*stappōnąbf.
  4. Proto-Germanic*stapjaną
  5. Proto-West Germanic*stappjan
  6. Old Englishstæppan
  7. Middle Englishsteppen
  8. Englishstep
  9. English todaydownstep

From down- + step.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.