styl-

1 of 2

combining form

variants or styli- or stylo-

: style : styloid process

stylopodium

stylography

stylus

2 of 2

noun

sty·​lus ˈstī-ləs 

plural styli ˈstī(-ə)-ˌlī  also styluses ˈstī-lə-səz 

: an instrument for writing, marking, or incising: such as

a

: an instrument used by the ancients in writing on clay or waxed tablets

b

: a hard-pointed pen-shaped instrument for marking on stencils used in a reproducing machine

c(1)

: needle sense 3c

(2)

: a cutting tool used to produce an original record groove during disc recording

d

: a pen-shaped pointing device used for entering data (such as positional information from a graphics tablet) into a computer

Examples of styl- in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The stylus has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, magnetic docking, and wireless charging. — James Peckham, PC Magazine, 8 Oct. 2026

Users can multitask with two apps at the same time and can use Apple's stylus called Pencil. — Kif Leswing, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026

The point is a stylus of silver or gold—mostly yellow or white gold in Nauman’s case. — Jeffrey Weiss, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026

Gurman also noted that Steve Jobs famously said that nobody wants a stylus for a phone. — David Phelan, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Combining form

Latin stilus spike, stem — more at style

Noun

Latin stylus, stilus spike, stylus — more at style

First Known Use

Noun

1773, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for styl-

• aisle
• bile
• chyle
• file
• guile
• heil
• isle
• kyle
• mile
• pile
• rile
• smile