Moved forward or backward by lifting one foot and putting it down in front of the other, or took action on something.
From Old English 'steppan,' related to Old High German 'stapfan.' The root likely imitates the sound or rhythm of footsteps.
Many verbs of motion are onomatopoetic like 'step'—they kind of sound like the action (step, stomp, trudge)—which is why languages that had different footwear or walking styles sometimes developed different words for this basic action.
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