stepfather

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See also: step-father

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English stepfader, from Old English stēopfæder, from Proto-Germanic *steupafadēr (“stepfather”), equivalent to step- +‎ father.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stäiffoar (“stepfather”), Dutch stiefvader (“stepfather”), German Low German Steevvader (“stepfather”), German Stiefvater (“stepfather”), Swedish styvfar (“stepfather”), Icelandic stjúpfaðir (“stepfather”).

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: step‧fa‧ther

Noun

stepfather (plural stepfathers)

  1. (in the narrow sense) A husband of one's biological mother after her initial marriage to or relationship with one's biological father.
    • 1980, Gerald Ford, “Boyhood—and Beyond”, in A Time to Heal‎, New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 47:
      My stepfather loved me as much as he loved his own three sons. I knew how much he wanted to help me and how lacking in financial resources he was. Nothing could erase the image I gained of my real father that day: a carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son.
  2. (in the broad sense) A husband of one's parent distinct from one's biological father or person with a similar relationship.
    • 2015, Werner A. Mueller, Monika Hassel, Maura Grealy, Development and Reproduction in Humans and Animal Model Species, Springer, →ISBN, page 188, column 2:
      In suboptimal cases the gynaecologist takes sperm from anonymous donors. In this case the husband can only be stepfather of the child.
    • 1953, Cyril Dean Darlington, The Facts of Life, page 433:
      Telegony or Inheritance from the Stepfather
      The earliest reference to telegony ( which has no connection with the son of Odysseus ) is supposed to be in 1665 but the classical case is that described in the Philosophical Transactions of […]
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

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