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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

stylus.

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.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈstaɪ.ləs/
  1. 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.

  2. 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. A small implement with a pointed end used for engraving and tracing.

  3. 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. A small device resembling a pen used to input handwritten text or drawings directly into an electronic device with a touch-sensitive screen.

  4. A hard-pointed pen-shaped instrument for marking on stencils used in a mimeograph machine.

  5. A hard point, typically of diamond or sapphire, following a groove in a phonograph and transmitting the recorded sound for reproduction.

  6. A hard point, typically of diamond or sapphire, following a groove in a phonograph and transmitting the recorded sound for reproduction. A pointed device formerly used to produce a groove in a record when recording sound.

  7. A tool for making small dots on a piece of heavy paper, used to produce Braille writing for the blind by hand.

  8. Synonym of style.

Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.