Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

steel

/stiːl/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.71 in modern English

Syllables
steel
IPA
/stiːl/
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English stele, stel, from Old English stīele, from Proto-West Germanic *stahlī (“something made of steel”), enlargement of *stahl (“steel”), from Proto-Germanic *stahlą, from *stah- or *stag- (“to be firm, rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *stak- (“to stay, to be firm”). Compare Scots stele, Yola stehli, German Stahl, Dutch staal, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stål.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Usage

Inflected Forms

steels (plural) steele (alternative, obsolete) steels (present, singular) steeling (participle, present) steeled (participle, past) steeled (past) the Steel (canonical)

Derived Forms

Biosteel electrosteel firesteel nonsteel oxysteel plasteel presteel radiosteel resteel semisteel steelback steelband

Phrases

alloy steel austenitic steel balls of steel Bessemer steel blister-steel blister steel bright lights and cold steel bronze steel

Frequently Paired Words

cast iron wrought iron

Synonyms

cold weapon white arm firesteel striker firestriker sword blade brand

Homonyms

steal stele steele

Rhymes With

feel real deal we'll appeal wheel meal ideal reveal steal seal she'll

Questions

How do you pronounce steel?
The recorded pronunciation is /stiːl/.
What does steel mean?
An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.
Where does steel come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce steel

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “steel”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/stiːl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “steel”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “steel” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.