escalier

step, stair; staircase

Inherited from Middle French escallier, borrowed (through written form) from Occitan escalier, from Late Latin scālārium (attested in some inscriptions), neuter nominalization of *scālārius (“pertaining to a flight of stairs”), or from scālāris, from Latin scāla (“ladder”). Replaced the older French degrés and montée in this sense. Doublet of échalier.