Doorstep

How to spell doorstep

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce doorstep

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does doorstep mean?

1. nounThe step or threshold immediately outside the entrance to a building.
2. verbTo approach or confront someone unannounced at their home, especially as a journalist seeking comment.

Doorstep in a sentence

• noun

  The parcel was left on the doorstep while she was at work.

• verb

  Reporters tried to doorstep the minister early on Sunday morning.

• noun

  He swept the leaves from the doorstep before the guests arrived.

• verb

  Editors instructed the team to doorstep every witness for a quote.

Where does doorstep come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent compound of two very old native English words. 'Door' descends from Old English 'duru' and 'dor', words for the swinging barrier across an entrance, with cousins right across the Germanic family such as Dutch 'deur' and German 'Tur'. 'Step' comes from Old English 'stæpe', meaning a tread, footfall, or stair, related to the verb 'steppan', to step. Joined together, the pair literally names the step or threshold immediately outside a door, a sense recorded in English from around the early nineteenth century. Because both halves are ordinary words that are spelled exactly as they sound, the only thing to remember is that it is written as one solid word, not 'door step'. In British slang the noun even stretched to mean a very thick slice of bread, cut as chunky as the step itself.

How the word is built

• door (entrance, from Old English duru/dor)
• step (a tread or stair, from Old English stæpe)