The word “stepparent” is believed to have come from the old English word stoep, which means “to deprive or bereave.” Adding the word “stoep,” and later “step,” to the word “parent” implied that a stepparent was one who cared for a child who had lost a parent due to death, and was thus a deprived or bereft child. The current dictionary definition of stepparent (according to the Merriam–Webster dictionary) is: “related by virtue of a remarriage (as of a parent) and not by blood.”

The word “stepparent” no longer implies any sort of bereavement, but instead a relationship created by the marriage of one biological parent to someone else. Stepgrandparents, stepsisters, stepbrothers, stepnieces, stepuncles, and more now join stepparents in the list of “steps.” Definitions of family have changed, and with this change came a broader definition of the stepparent. The idea of a stepmother or stepfather is so common that the terms are often used for a biological parent's longtime girlfriend or boyfriend, an adoptive parent, a foster parent, a grandparent who took in their child's child, or even an adult with whom a child is exceptionally close.