stepping stone

See also: steppingstone and stepping-stone

English

First attested circa 1325; first used in the figurative sense circa 1653.

stepping stone (plural stepping stones)

A stone that can be stepped on in crossing something, especially a marsh or creek.
- 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
  Falling—her veriest stepping-stone
  Shall form the pedestal of a throne— […]
(idiomatic) Something used as a way to progress to something or somewhere else.
He was full of ambition, and force, and life, intending all sorts of great things, and meaning to make his position a stepping stone to all that was excellent in public life.

Esperanto can make a good stepping stone language to Latin, which may be difficult for amateur linguists.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto I:
  I held it truth, with him who sings
  ⁠To one clear harp in divers tones,
  ⁠That men may rise on stepping-stones
  Of their dead selves to higher things.

stone used to cross something

Bulgarian: основопола́гащ ка́мък m (osnovopolágašt kámǎk)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 墊腳石／垫脚石 (zh) (diànjiǎoshí)
Danish: trædesten (da) c
Esperanto: travadoŝtono
Finnish: askelkivi
French: see pas japonais (fr) and gué (fr)
German: Trittstein (de) m
Icelandic: stiklur f pl
Indonesian: batu loncatan (id)
Italian: sasseto m, selciaia f, acciottolato (it) m
Japanese: 飛び石 (ja) (とびいし, tobiishi)
Portuguese: poldra (pt) f, pondra (pt) f, alpondra (pt)
Russian: ка́мень, поло́женный для перехо́да m (kámenʹ, polóžennyj dlja perexóda) (no exact term exists), ка́мень-присту́пка m (kámenʹ-pristúpka)
Scottish Gaelic: clacharan m
Tagalog: batong tuntungan

something used as a way to progress