Affixes

The Latin word referred to a writing instrument, and also figuratively to a manner or technique of literary composition. The latter sense is preserved in English style, and the former in stylus. Both words were respelled under the influence of Greek stulos, a column or pillar, whose meaning has also affected the usage of style.

Examples of stylo‑ in various senses include stylometry, the statistical analysis of variations in literary style between one writer or genre and another; stylophone, a miniature electronic musical instrument that employs a stylus; and stylograph, a kind of fountain pen having a fine perforated tube instead of a split nib. The adjective styliform refers to something slender and pointed.