Meaning & use
stepsis
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformalslang
A casual shortening of 'stepsister': a girl or woman who is the daughter of your stepparent, or whose parent married your parent.
Grammar: A counted noun, used in speech and online: my stepsis, two stepsises.
Patterns
- someone's stepsis
My stepsis and I are going shopping this weekend.
I got along with my stepsis right away even though we met only last month.
She posted a photo with her stepsis at the wedding.
Word forms
| plural | stepsises |
|---|
Common combinations
- my stepsis
- My stepsis is visiting from college.
- get along with a stepsis
- He gets along really well with his stepsis.
- share a room with a stepsis
- She shares a room with her stepsis for now.
- text a stepsis
- I'll text my stepsis to check what time she lands.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stepsister
- Stepsister is the full standard form, suitable for writing and formal speech, while stepsis is casual.
- stepbrother
- A stepbrother is the male equivalent, so it describes a different relative, not a swap for stepsis.
- sis
- Sis is an affectionate short term for any sister, but it does not show the step relationship.
Word family
- stepsister noun
- the full form of stepsis
- stepbrother noun
- a male child of your stepparent
- stepfamily noun
- a family formed when a parent remarries
- stepparent noun
- the person your parent marries
Commonly confused: stepsis or half-sister?
stepsis vs half-sister
A half-sister shares one parent with you by blood, while a stepsister is connected only through a parent's marriage.
Practice
My mother married her father last year, so she is now my ___.
Choose one answer.
A relative connected through a parent's remarriage is a stepsister, informally a stepsis. A half-sister would share a biological parent, which is not the case here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stepsis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.