steep: English has two words steep. The adjective, ‘precipitous’ [OE], originally meant ‘very high’. It came from the prehistoric Germanic base *staup-, *stūp-, which also produced English steeple [OE] (etymologically a ‘high’ tower) and stoop [OE]. The verb steep ‘soak’ [14] probably came via an unrecorded Old English *stīepan from prehistoric Germanic *staupjan. This was formed from the base *staup-, *stup-, which also produced English stoup ‘water vessel’ [14] (a borrowing from Old Norse). => steeple, stoop, stoup
steep (adj.)
"having a sharp slope," Old English steap "high, lofty; deep; prominent, projecting," from Proto-Germanic *staupaz (cognates: Old Frisian stap "high, lofty," Middle High German *stouf), from PIE *steup-, extended form of root *(s)teu- (1) "to push, stick, knock, beat," with derivations referring to projecting objects (cognates: Greek typtein "to strike," typos "a blow, mold, die;" Sanskrit tup- "harm," tundate "pushes, stabs;" Gothic stautan "push;" Old Norse stuttr "short"). The sense of "precipitous" is from c. 1200. The slang sense "at a high price" is a U.S. coinage first attested 1856. Related: Steeply; steepness. The noun meaning "steep place" is from 1550s.
steep (v.)
"to soak in a liquid," early 14c., of uncertain origin, originally in reference to barley or malt, probably cognate with Old Norse steypa "to pour out, throw" (perhaps from an unrecorded Old English cognate), from Proto-Germanic *staupijanan. Related: Steeped; steeping.
双语例句
1. She started once again on the steep upward climb.
她又开始沿着陡峭的山路往上爬。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Both he and the crew are on a steep learning curve.
他和组员们都学得很快。
来自柯林斯例句
3. San Francisco is built on 40 hills and some are very steep.