Steppe
noun ·1 syllable ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia. countable, uncountable
"Nevertheless be it remarked, that even a Russian steppe has tumuli and gold ornaments […]"
- 2 extensive plain without trees (associated with eastern Russia and Siberia) wordnet
- 3 A vast, cold, dry, grassy plain. countable, uncountable
"Grasslands: The Steppe biome is a dry, cold, grassland that is found in all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. It is mostly found in the USA, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet and China. There isn't much humidity in the air because Steppe is located away from the ocean and close to mountain barriers."
Example
More examples"The leveret runs in the steppe."
Etymology
From German Steppe or French steppe, in turn from Russian степь (stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”). There is no generally accepted earlier etymology, but there is a speculative Old East Slavic reconstruction *сътепь (sŭtepĭ, “trampled place, flat, bare”), related to топот (topot), топтать (toptatĭ).
Related phrases
More for "steppe"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.