Stead

How to spell stead

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce stead

What does stead mean?

1. nounThe place or role of a person or thing, used chiefly in fixed phrases meaning in someone's place or to someone's lasting benefit.

Stead in a sentence

• When the manager was ill, her deputy attended the meeting in her stead.

• The long hours of training will stand you in good stead during the marathon.

Where does stead come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a genuinely old native word, descending from the Old English stede, which simply meant a place, a position, or a standing spot. It traces back to a Germanic root shared with Dutch stede and German Statt and Stadt (city), and ultimately to an ancient root meaning to stand, the same family that gave us 'stand', 'stable' and 'stationary'. In early English a stead was literally a spot of ground, a sense that survives in place names and in the word 'homestead', a piece of land where a home stands. Over time the bare word narrowed mostly into fixed expressions: to do something 'in someone's stead' is to do it in their place, and something that 'stands you in good stead' has historically meant it serves you well by taking a useful position on your behalf. Because the everyday survivor of stede is now the joined-up word 'instead', writers often forget that 'stead' stands alone and may wrongly drop the silent-feeling 'a' or attach it to the preceding word.

How the word is built

• stead (from Old English stede: a place or position)