stylus

Meaning

Noun

• 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 hard-pointed pen-shaped instrument for marking on stencils used in a mimeograph machine.
• A hard point, typically of diamond or sapphire, following a groove in a phonograph and transmitting the recorded sound for reproduction.
• A tool for making small dots on a piece of heavy paper, used to produce Braille writing for the blind by hand.
• Synonym of style.

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin stylus ("a stake or pale"). Probably not directly related to Ancient Greek στῦλος ("a pillar"). style.