# steep

> English word · Adjective · IPA /stiːp/ · frequency rank #7,292

## Definitions
1. Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.
2. Expensive.
3. Difficult to access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high.
4. resulting in a mast or windshield angle that strongly diverges from the perpendicular.

## Etymology
From Middle English steep, from Old English stēap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, stick”).
Compare Old Frisian stāp ("high, towering"; > Modern Saterland Frisian stiep (“steep”)), Dutch stoop (“grand; proud”), Middle High German stouf (“towering cliff, precipice”), Middle High German stief (“steep”)). The Proto-Indo-European root (and related) has many and varied descendants, including English stub; compare also Scots stap (“to strike, to forcibly insert”).
The sense of “sharp slope” is attested circa 1200; the sense “expensive” is attested US 1856.

## Easily confused with
- **STP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stp)
- **stop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stop)
- **stem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stem)
- **stew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stew)
- **sweet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-sweet)
- **steps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-steps)
- **Steve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-steve)
- **strip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-strip)
- **sweep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-sweep)
- **stern** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stern)
- **strap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-strap)
- **steer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-steer)
- **stein** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stein)
- **stump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stump)
- **Steph** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-steph)
- **stomp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stomp)
- **stoop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stoop)
- **stent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stent)
- **strep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-strep)
- **stews** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steep-vs-stews)

## Common misspellings (7)
`setep`, `ssteep`, `steepp`, `step`, `stepe`, `stteep`, `tseep`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/steep