stylus

• stilus

Borrowed from Latin stylus (“a stake or pale”). Probably not directly related to Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos, “a pillar”). Doublet of style.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstaɪ.ləs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪləs

stylus (plural styli or styluses)

1. (writing) An ancient writing implement consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on clay, wax-covered tablets or other surfaces, and a blunt end for obliterating them.
   • 2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review”, in The Telegraph‎^[1]:

     [T]he pleasure of writing on wax with a stylus is exemplified by the fine, flowing hand of a Roman scribe who made out the birth certificate of Herennia Gemella, born March 128 AD.

   • 2019 July 28, Rob Picheta, “Ancient Roman pen with an inscribed joke found under streets of London”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     But that tactic may have older roots than we thought; archaeologists have discovered an iron stylus in London, complete with an inscribed joke, that dates back nearly 2,000 years.
     Of 200 styluses found at a site under Bloomberg’s new European headquarters, only one – dating back to around 70 A.D. – had a message inscribed onto it.

   1. A small implement with a pointed end used for engraving and tracing.
   2. (computing) A small device resembling a pen used to input handwritten text or drawings directly into an electronic device with a touch-sensitive screen.
      • 2023 October 19, Mike Andronico, “Apple just revealed a new $79 Apple Pencil with USB-C — but is it right for you?”, in CNN‎^[3]:

        It’s the cheapest stylus Apple’s released yet, but you’ll need a USB-C iPad to use it.

2. A hard-pointed pen-shaped instrument for marking on stencils used in a mimeograph machine.
3. A hard point, typically of diamond or sapphire, following a groove in a phonograph and transmitting the recorded sound for reproduction.

   Synonym: needle

   1. A pointed device formerly used to produce a groove in a record when recording sound.
4. A tool for making small dots on a piece of heavy paper, used to produce Braille writing for the blind by hand.
5. (botany) Synonym of style.

• stylo-, styl-

• light pen, lightpen

• “stylus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “stylus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• IPA^(key): [ˈstɪlus]

stylus m inan

1. (computing) stylus (small plastic stick used as a pen for writing on the touch sensitive screen of an electronic gadget)

stylus m inan

1. (historical) stylus (instrument for writing on wax tablets)

   Alternative form: stilus

2. (botany) pedicel

• “stylus”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “stylus”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “stylus”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Borrowed from Latin stylus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsti.lʏs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sty‧lus

stylus m (plural stylussen)

1. stylus (sharp pen used for writing on clay tablets or wax tablets)
2. stylus (plastic stick used for interacting with touch-screen devices)

• stylo

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsty.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈst̪iː.lus]

stylus m (genitive stylī); second declension

1. (proscribed) alternative form of stilus

Second-declension noun.

• → English: style, stylus

• “stylus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  “stilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “stylus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  “stilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• stylus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  stilus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• "stylus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “stylus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  “stilus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɘ.lus/
• Rhymes: -ɘlus
• Syllabification: sty‧lus

stylus m inan

1. (historical) stylus (ancient writing implement consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on clay)

• stylus in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “stylus”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• stylus in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Borrowed from Latin stylus.

stylus m (plural stylus)

1. (computing) stylus (plastic stick used for interacting with touchscreen devices)
   • 2021 July 21, Juan Garzon, “Los mejores celulares Android de 2021”, in CNN en Español‎^[4]:

     Este celular tiene una hermosa pantalla, un cuerpo que es resistente al agua (IP68), su procesador Snapdragon 888 (o Exynos 2100), con 12 GB o 16 GB de RAM, ofrece una experiencia muy fluida y es el primer celular de la serie Galaxy S que es compatible con un S Pen, el stylus de Samsung.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)