Where does “stairs” come from?

Stairs comes from Middle English steire, Old English stǣġer, and Proto-Germanic staigriz, all descended from Proto-Indo-European steygʰ-, meaning to climb or mount.

stairs (English): plural of stair; API pl; A contiguous set of...

Definitions

  1. plural of stair; API pl; A contiguous set of...

Ancestry of “stairs”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishstairA single step in a staircase; A series of steps;...
2Middle Englishsteirestaircase, stairs; stair, step; ladder
3Old Englishstǣġerstair, staircase
4Proto-Germanicstaigrizscaffold, platform; stairs
5Proto-Indo-Europeansteyǵʰ-to go

Words derived from “stairs”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European steyǵʰ- →