steppe

Meaning

1. The grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia. Similar to (North American) prairie and (African) savanna.
2. A vast, cold, dry grass-plain.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/stɛp/

Etymology

From German Steppe or French steppe, in turn from Russian степь (stepʹ, “flat grassy plain”). There is no generally accepted earlier etymology, but there is a speculative Old East Slavic reconstruction *сътепь (sŭtepĭ, “trampled place, flat, bare”), related to топот (topot), топтать (toptatĭ).

Sentences

The castle also protected Kyiv from the nomads of the Great Steppe .