step-, [AS. steóp-; akin to OFries. stiap-, stiep-, D. & G. stief-, OHG. stiuf-, Icel. stjp-, Sw. styf-, and to AS. āstēpan, āsteópan, to deprive, bereave, as children of their parents, OHG. stiufen.].
A prefix used before
father,
mother,
brother,
sister,
son,
daughter,
child, etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent;
as, a stepmother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See
Stepchild,
Stepdaughter,
Stepson, etc. [
1913 Webster]