Stairstepping

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Rising or falling in a series of regular steps, much like the treads and risers of a staircase
2. Arranged in successive levels that climb or descend in even increments, resembling a flight of stairs
3. Moving or progressing in discrete, evenly spaced jumps, as a flight of steps would form a rising pattern

Etymology: Stairstepping is a plain compound: "stair" plus "step," with the verb ending "-ping" added to form the present participle of "stairstep." The "stair" half descends from Old English "stæger," and "step" from Old English "stæppe," both ancient Germanic words for things you climb or walk on. Nothing about the word is unusual in its formation; it is built from two everyday English nouns that were already common long before the compound appeared. The compound's literal sense is simply a sequence of stairs, and the verb extends that picture to anything that rises in discrete increments rather than smoothly. Writers apply it to prices, sales figures, or lines on a graph that climb in jumps and then level off. The image stays concrete: each jump has a flat tread and a vertical riser, just as a staircase does.