the.com/stepmom

means A woman married to your parent who did not give birth to you but helps raise you anyway.

from Straightforward Old English stock: 'step-' comes from steop-, tied to a root meaning 'bereaved' or 'orphaned' — the prefix originally marked a family bond formed after loss, like a parent's death, not mere remarriage. 'Mom' is the familiar, babyish form of 'mother,' rooted in the near-universal 'ma' sound infants make. Fairy tales did the rest, bolting centuries of wicked-stepmother folklore onto a word that originally just meant 'the mother who stepped in after grief.'