Stead
/stɛd/noun
The place or role of someone or something, especially in the phrase 'in stead of' meaning in place of.
Did you know?Stead comes from an old Germanic root meaning 'to stand,' the same deep root behind words like stand, standard, and steady — language literally built on the image of being upright and fixed.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*steh₂-
“to stand, make or be firm”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*stadiz
“place, standing place”
Old English
OE
stede
“place, site, position”
Middle English
ME
stede
“place; in the place of”
Modern English
English
stead
“the place or role of something, especially in the phrase 'in stead of'”