# still

> English word · Adjective · IPA /stɪl/ · frequency rank #127

## Definitions
1. Not moving; calm.
2. Not effervescing; not sparkling.
3. Uttering no sound; silent.
4. Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time
5. Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low.
6. Constant; continual.
7. Dormant.

## Etymology
From Middle English stille (“motionless, stationary”), from Old English stille (“still, quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stillī, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telH- (“to be silent; to be still”). Cognate with Scots stil (“still”), Saterland Frisian stil (“motionless, calm, quiet”), West Frisian stil (“quiet, still”), Dutch stil (“quiet, silent, still”), Low German still (“quiet, silent, still”), German still (“still, quiet, tranquil, silent”), Swedish stilla (“quiet, silent, peaceful”), Icelandic stilltur (“set, quiet, calm, still”). Related to stall.
(noun: Falkland Islander): Military slang, short for still a Benny, since the military had been instructed not to refer to the islanders by the derogatory term Benny (which see).

## Easily confused with
- **stir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stir)
- **style** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-style)
- **stole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stole)
- **sting** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-sting)
- **swell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-swell)
- **stint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stint)
- **stool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stool)
- **stink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stink)
- **swirl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-swirl)
- **stipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stipe)
- **Stoll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stoll)
- **stroll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stroll)
- **stiller** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/still-vs-stiller)
- **STI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sti-vs-still)
- **sil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sil-vs-still)
- **sell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sell-vs-still)
- **soil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soil-vs-still)
- **silk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-still)
- **sail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sail-vs-still)
- **silo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silo-vs-still)

## Common misspellings (6)
`sitll`, `sstill`, `stil`, `stlil`, `sttill`, `tsill`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/still