This week’s theme
British streets that became words

This week’s words
Coronation Street
stepney
Pepper Alley
Carnaby
Acacia Avenue

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(STEP-nee)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A spare wheel or a spare tire.
2. Something or someone treated as a backup.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Stepney Street in Llanelli, Wales, where such wheels were initially manufactured. Earliest documented use: 1907.

NOTES:

In the early days, automobiles did not come with a spare wheel. At the same time, roads were often not in good condition. Also, they were more likely to have nails that had fallen from horseshoes. As a result, flat tires or punctures were common. Walter and Thomas Davies started a business manufacturing compact spare wheels at Stepney Street and it took off. As a result, such wheels came to be known as stepneys. These days the term is used mostly on the Indian subcontinent.

USAGE:

“‘It’s the off-tyre here!’ he muttered angrily. ‘You have a stepney, of course?’”
Mark Hodder; Sexton Blake Versus the Master Crooks; Rebellion; 2020.

“Here we can’t manage one wife, and you have a stepney before your first wife has even been declared legally dead.”
Kiran Manral; Missing Presumed Dead; Amaryllis; 2018.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: