Stairway, staircase, stairwell, flight of stairs, or simply stairs are names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. Stairways may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles.
Special stairways include escalators and ladders. Some alternatives to stairways are elevators, stairlifts and inclined moving sidewalks as well as stationary inclined sidewalks.