still life
/ˌstɪl ˈlaɪf/
"still-life" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“still life” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A work of art depicting an arrangement of inanimate objects.
Corpus desk
Index EN-still-life · still life · English
still life · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | still life |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌstɪl ˈlaɪf/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “still life” in English
Rare enough to double-check
still life is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌstɪl ˈlaɪf/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
still life doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Dutch stilleven. The correct English form is still life, spelled S-T-I-L-L- -L-I-F-E.
Definition
- 1A work of art depicting an arrangement of inanimate objects.
- 2A pattern that does not change from one generation to the next.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how still life appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I think you're talking about a configuration known as "eater," a still life in 6-8 cells. If the glider hits the right spot, the eater will form a bridge and destroy the glider while undergoing little change before reverting.
Thus, a natural question, apparently proposed very early, was whether there exists a still life (i.e. period 1 oscillator) that reflects a glider.
Etymology
Calque of Dutch stilleven.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.