stylus

American  

[stahy-luhs] / ˈstaɪ ləs /

noun

plural

styli, styluses

1. an instrument of metal, bone, or the like, used by the ancients for writing on waxed tablets, having one end pointed for incising the letters and the other end blunt for rubbing out writing and smoothing the tablet.

2. any of various pointed, pen-shaped instruments used in drawing, artwork, etc.

3. Computers. a pen-shaped device used on a display screen to input commands or handwritten text or drawings.

4. Audio.

   1. Also called cutting stylus.  a needle used for cutting grooves in making a disk recording to be played on a phonograph.

   2. a needle for reproducing the sounds of a phonograph record.

5. any of various pointed wedges used to punch holes in paper or other material, as in writing Braille.

6. any of various kinds of pens for tracing a line automatically, as on a recording seismograph or electrocardiograph.

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stylus British  

/ ˈstaɪləs /

noun

1. Also called: style.  a pointed instrument for engraving, drawing, or writing

2. a tool used in ancient times for writing on wax tablets, which was pointed at one end and blunt at the other for erasing mistakes

3. a device attached to the cartridge in the pick-up arm of a record player that rests in the groove in the record, transmitting the vibrations to the sensing device in the cartridge. It consists of or is tipped with a hard material, such as diamond or sapphire

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Other Word Forms

• stylar
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of stylus

1720–30; < Latin: spelling variant of stilus stake, pointed writing instrument; spelling with -y- from fancied derivation < Greek stŷlos column

Explanation

A stylus is a tool with a hard, pointed end that you use for writing or drawing. Today, you can also use a stylus to virtually "write" on an electronic tablet, computer, or smartphone. Styli (or styluses) were originally used in ancient Greece and Rome to scratch writing into wax tablets; the blunt end of the stylus worked as an eraser, smudging the words out. Artists also use styli for shaping clay. If you're lucky enough to have an old-fashioned record player, you know that stylus also refers to the "needle" that fits into the grooves of the record and plays it.

Example Sentences

His debut piece for Coachella captured a pastel desert with a giant California poppy-turned-Venus flytrap, its long stem ending in a stylus on a record player rooted in a tree stump.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

In my cell, I imagined myself riding shotgun, holding a stylus and Galaxy Note to take down our conversation.

From Slate • Oct. 8, 2025

Research, for example, has found that students’ brains were more active when they handwrote information rather than typing it on a keyboard and when using a pen and paper versus a stylus and a tablet.

From Salon • Jun. 8, 2025

Besides exposing coatings to high temperatures, Micro Materials also has a “woodpecker” device, a tiny diamond stylus, which repeatedly taps a coating at random locations to test its durability.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024

She takes her stylus and carves the same centerless sun Adinkra symbol into the ground.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer