Etymology

steel

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Today it means: An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness. Full definition →

Middle English stele ← Old English stīele ← Proto-West Germanic *stahlī
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steel · noun, adjective, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*stak-“to stay, to be firm”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*stahlą
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*stahlī“something made of steel”
  4. Old English · inherited fromstīele
  5. Middle English · inherited fromstele
  6. English todaysteel

From Middle English stele, stel, from Old English stīele, from Proto-West Germanic *stahlī (“something made of steel”), enlargement of *stahl (“steel”), from Proto-Germanic *stahlą, from *stah- or *stag- (“to be firm, rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *stak- (“to stay, to be firm”). Compare Scots stele, Yola stehli, German Stahl, Dutch staal, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stål.

steel · proper noun2

  1. French · derived fromBastille
  2. English todaysteel

From French Bastille (a French prison).

Steel · proper noun3

From Bastille.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishstele all →

steelestale

Proto-Germanic*stahlą all →

Stalin

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.