The story
- Old English · inherited fromstēopċild“stepchild”
- Middle English · inherited fromstepchild
- English todaystepchild
From Middle English stepchild, stepchyld, from Old English stēopċild (“stepchild”), equivalent to step- + child. Compare Dutch stiefkind (“stepchild”), German Stiefkind (“stepchild”), Swedish styvbarn (“stepchild”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.