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PlainSpell

footstep

foot·step/ˈfʊtstɛp/noun

footstep is a noun meaning “The mark or impression left by a foot; a track” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-O-O-T-S-T-E-P and has 2 syllables (foot·step), and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of footstep is footsteps.

What does footstep mean?

noun

  1. 1

    The mark or impression left by a foot; a track.

    The child watched as his footsteps in the sand were washed away by the waves.

  2. 2

    The indications or waypoints of a course or direction taken.

    To walk the footsteps of greatness requires that you start at the bottom of a long stair.

  3. 3

    The sound made by walking, running etc.

    The footsteps of the students echoed in the empty hall.

  4. 4

    A step, as in a stair.

    The garden path had a small footstep down to the main walkway.

  5. 5

    The distance between one foot and the next when walking; a pace.

    Mere footsteps away from the victim lay the murder weapon.

  6. 6

    The act of taking a step.

    Take one more footstep towards me, and I'll make you sorry!

  7. 7

    obsoleteAn inclined plane under a hand printing press.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce footstep?

  • /ˈfʊtstɛp/

Footstep has 2 syllables, split foot·step in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-footstep.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of footstep

  • footsteps plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is footstep?

Footstep appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 69,884th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Footstep in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchempreinte, trace de pas (mark left by a foot), pas, bruit de pas (sound of a footstep), marche (step, as in a stair)
GermanFußabdruck (mark left by a foot), Schritt (distance of one footstep)
Portuguesepegada, passo (mark left by a foot), degrau (step, as in a stair)
Spanishhuella, paso (mark left by a foot), pisada, pisadura (sound of a footstep), peldaño (step, as in a stair)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does footstep come from?

From Middle English fotstep, fotstappe, from Old English *fōtstepe, *fōtstæpe (attested only in derivative fōtstappel (“footstep”)), equivalent to foot + step. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foutstappe (“footstep”), West Frisian fuotstap (“footstep”), Dutch voetstap (“footstep”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).