étape

Meaning

Noun

• A public storehouse.
• Supplies issued to troops on the march.
• The place where troops on the march halt overnight.
• The distance marched during a day.
• In Russia, a prison or stockade for the confinement of prisoners in transit.
• A stage of a multistage bicycle race.

Origin

• Borrowed from French étape, from Middle French estappe, from Old French estaple, from Middle Dutch stapel, from Old Dutch stapul, from Frankish *stapul. More at staple.