Steile

Steile is a German adjective meaning steep or precipitous, used to describe slopes, walls, stairs and other inclined surfaces. The form steile is one of the possible inflected endings of steil, and it appears depending on case, gender and number in a sentence.

In German grammar, steile is commonly seen in feminine singular and in all plural forms when used attributively with a definite or indefinite article. For example: eine steile Treppe (a steep staircase) and die steile Wand (the steep wall). In plural: die steilen Wände (the steep walls). With a feminine noun in the dative case you would say der steilen Wand, and in the dative plural den steilen Wänden. The masculine singular form is steil (not steile), as in ein steiler Hang.

The word steile shares its meaning with related terms across German-speaking regions and is frequently used in contexts involving terrain, architecture, and outdoor description. Its etymology traces to the Germanic root for steep, with historical forms in Middle and Old High German that contributed to modern steil and its inflected variants.

As a proper noun, Steile may occasionally appear as a surname or as part of a place name, but such uses are uncommon and not widely documented. In most cases, steile is understood as a common adjective rather than a standalone noun.

See also: steil, steepness and related German adjective declensions.