Meanings
stair1
plural stairs
- A series of steps; a staircase.
Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish1 more example
Among other work done, according to the letter: CPR replaced the bottom of a deteriorating stair column base with hollow steel structural sections; conducted exploratory demolition on the underside of an eave that required “removal and reconstruction”; and removed all loose “cracked, spalled, deteriorated, and delaminated concrete” and damaged stucco from the underside of balcony eaves on 114 of the building’s 136 units, the letter said.
2021 July 2, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Alta Spells, Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, “Firm held off on repairs because of stability issues in months before Surfside building collapse”, in CNN, archived from the original on 22 Nov 2021
Stair2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA single step in a staircase.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsupport consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
stair · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*steygʰ-
- Proto-Indo-European*stéygʰeti
- Proto-Germanic*stīganą
- Proto-Germanic*staigijaną
- Proto-Germanic*staigraz
- Proto-Germanic*staigriz
- Proto-West Germanic*staigri
- Old Englishstǣġer
- Middle Englishsteire
- Englishstair
From Middle English steire, staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English stǣġer (“stair, staircase”), from Proto-West Germanic *staigri, from Proto-Germanic *staigriz (“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to walk, proceed, march, climb”). Cognate with Dutch steiger (“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir (“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger (“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English āstǣġan (“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English stīġan (“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege (“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Stair · proper noun
From stair, a topographic surname for someone who lived by a ladder or steps.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَلَالِم
- سَلَالِم (salālim)series of steps
Basque eskailera
- eskaileraseries of steps
Bulgarian стъпало, стълбище
- стъпало (stăpalo)single step
- стълбище (stălbište)series of steps
Catalan esglaó, graó
- esglaósingle step
- graósingle step
Chinese Mandarin 臺階 /台阶, 樓梯 /楼梯
- 臺階 /台阶 (táijiē)single step
- 樓梯 /楼梯 (lóutī)series of steps
Czech schody, schodiště
- schodyseries of steps
- schodištěseries of steps
Danish trappe
- trappeseries of steps
Dutch tree, trap
- treesingle step
- trapseries of steps
Esperanto ŝtupo, ŝtuparo
- ŝtuposingle step
- ŝtuparoseries of steps
Estonian trepp
- treppseries of steps
Finnish porras, portaat
- porrassingle step
- portaatseries of steps
- portaikkoseries of steps
French marche, escalier
- marchesingle step
- escalierseries of steps
- voléeseries of steps
German Stufe, Treppenstufe
- Stufesingle step
- Treppenstufesingle step
- Treppeseries of steps
- Stiegeseries of steps
Greek σκαλί, σκαλοπάτι
- σκαλί (skalí)single step
- σκαλοπάτι (skalopáti)single step
- σκάλα (skála)series of steps
- κλίμακα (klímaka)series of steps
Hebrew מדרגות, מדרגה
- מדרגותseries of steps
- מדרגה (madregá)series of steps
Hungarian lépcsőfok, lépcső
- lépcsőfoksingle step
- lépcsőseries of steps
- lépcsősorseries of steps
Icelandic trappa, þrep
- trappasingle step
- þrepsingle step
- stigiseries of steps
- tröppurseries of steps
- þrepseries of steps
Indonesian tangga
- tanggaseries of steps
Italian scalino, scala
- scalinosingle step
- scalaseries of steps
Japanese 石段, 段
- 石段 (ishidan)single step
- 段 (dan)single step
- 階段 (kaidan)series of steps
Korean 계단
- 계단 (gyedan)series of steps
Latin gradus
- gradussingle step
Latvian kāpnes
- kāpnesseries of steps
Lithuanian laiptas, laiptinė
- laiptassingle step
- laiptinėseries of steps
- laiptaiseries of steps
Malay تڠݢ, tangga
- تڠݢseries of steps
- tanggaseries of steps
Māori arawhata, arapiki
- arawhataseries of steps
- arapikiseries of steps
Norwegian trinn, trapp
- trinnsingle step
- trappseries of steps
Persian پله, پلکان
- پله (pelle)single step
- پلکان (pellekân)series of steps
Polish stopień
- stopieńsingle step
Portuguese degrau, escada
- degrausingle step
- escadaseries of steps
Punjabi پَوڑی, پَوڑیاں
- پَوڑی (pauṛī)single step
- پَوڑیاں (pauṛeyāṉ)series of steps
Romanian treaptă, scară
- treaptăsingle step
- scarăseries of steps
Russian ступе́нька, ступе́нь
- ступе́нька (stupénʹka)single step
- ступе́нь (stupénʹ)single step
- ле́стница (léstnica)series of steps
- ступе́ньки (stupénʹki)series of steps
Scottish Gaelic staidhre, staidhre
- staidhresingle step
- staidhreseries of steps
Slovak schodisko, schody
- schodiskoseries of steps
- schodyseries of steps
Spanish peldaño, escalera
- peldañosingle step
- escaleraseries of steps
Swedish trappsteg, trappa
- trappstegsingle step
- trappaseries of steps
Thai บันได, กระได
- บันได (ban-dai)series of steps
- กระได (grà-dai)series of steps
Turkish merdiven, merdiven
- merdivensingle step
- merdivenseries of steps
Ukrainian схі́дець, схо́динка
- схі́дець (sxídecʹ)single step
- схо́динка (sxódynka)single step
- схо́ди (sxódy)series of steps
Vietnamese cầu thang
- cầu thangseries of steps
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with stair
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
stair. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stair
“stair.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stair. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stair,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stair.
Source: stair on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.