Standard Lemma guide

stepsister

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S T EH1 P S IH2 S T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The daughter of one's stepparent by a previous relationship.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The stepdaughter of one's parent which is not one's half-sister.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a sister who has only one parent in common with you

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: half sister, half-sister

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sister, sis

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew- Proto-Germanic *steupa- Proto-West Germanic *steupa- Old English stēop- Middle English step- English step- Proto-Indo-European *swé Proto-Indo-European *h1ésh2r̥ Proto-Indo-European *su-h1ésh2-ōr? Proto-Indo-European *swé Proto-Indo-European *-sōr ? Proto-Indo-European *swésōrder. Proto-Germanic *swestēr Proto-West Germanic *swester Old English sweostor Middle English suster English sister English stepsister From step- + sister.

Across languages

Translations

75 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: hermanastra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Asturian: hermanasca — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Azerbaijani: bacılıq — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Azerbaijani: ögey bacı — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Bengali: সৎবোন (śôtbon) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Bulgarian: дове́дена сестра́ (dovédena sestrá) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Bulgarian: зава́рена сестра́ (zavárena sestrá) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Catalan: germanastra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 繼姊妹 /继姊妹 (jì zǐmèi) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Danish: stedsøster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Dutch: stiefzus — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Esperanto: vicfratino — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Finnish: siskopuoli — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Finnish: sisarpuoli — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • French: quasi-sœur — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • French: sorâtre — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • French: sœurâtre — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Georgian: არაღვიძლი და (araɣviʒli da) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • German: Stiefschwester — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Greek: ετεροθαλής αδελφή (eterothalís adelfí) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Hindi: सौतेली बहन (sautelī bahan) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Hungarian: mostohatestvér — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Hungarian: mostohanővér — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Icelandic: stjúpsystir — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Ido: stif-fratino — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Indonesian: kakak tiri — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Indonesian: adik tiri — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Ingrian: sisarlentämä — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Irish: leasdeirfiúr — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Italian: sorellastra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Japanese: 義理の姉妹 (giri no shimai) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Kashmiri: وورٕ بیٚنہِ (vōrụ beni) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Central Kurdish: زڕخوشک (zirrxuşk) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Latin: vitrici filia — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Latin: novercae filia — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Latin: comprivigna — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Macedonian: по́лусестра (pólusestra) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Malay: kakak tiri — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Malay: adik tiri perempuan — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Māori: tuahine kē — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Norman: d'mié-soeu — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Norman: soeu empruntée — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Norwegian Bokmål: stesøster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: stesøster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: stesyster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Persian: خواهندر (xâhandar) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Persian: ناخواهری (nâxâhari) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Plautdietsch: Steefsesta — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Polish: przybrana siostra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Portuguese: irmã de criação — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Russian: сво́дная сестра́ (svódnaja sestrá) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Scottish Gaelic: leas-phiuthar — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Serbo-Croatian: по̏лусестра — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Serbo-Croatian: pȍlusestra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Slovak: nevlastná sestra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Slovene: polsestra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Spanish: hermanastra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swahili: dada wa kambo — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: plastsyster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: styvsyster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: bonussyster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: låtasassyster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: extrasyster — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: bonussyrra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: styvsyrra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: plastsyrra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: låtsassyrra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Swedish: extrasyrra — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Turkish: üvey kız kardeş — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Volapük: jlublod — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Volapük: jilugem — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Volapük: lusör — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Yiddish: שטיפֿשוועסטער (shtifshvester) — daughter from the previous marriage of a stepparent
  • Latin: vitrici filia — stepdaughter of one's mother
  • Latin: novercae filia — stepdaughter of one's father
Real reading context

stepsister in complete knowledge articles