English
stepquote
From step + quote.
Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- ‘to support’
Proto-Germanic *stapjaną ‘to step’
Proto-West Germanic *stappjan ‘to step’
Old English steppan ‘to step’
Middle English steppen ‘to step’
English step
Proto-Indo-European *kʷís ‘who, what’
…
Latin quotus ‘which’
Medieval Latin quotō ‘to distinguish by numbers’
Old French coter
Middle English quoten
English quote
The story
Coined by Eugene Maleska.
Today it means
noun A message in the grid of a crossword, split between multiple lights and arranged in a zigzag or steplike pattern.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “stepquote”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / stepquote