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Etymology and origin of the English word still

Pronunciation

  • /ˈstɪl/, /ˈstɪo̯/[1]

still1 motionless; yet

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 725 Beowulf
Inherited from
Old English stille via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *stel-

Etymology

The word for motionless is inherited from Middle English stille, inherited from Old English stille (“motionless, fixed, stationary”),[2][3][4] from Proto-West Germanic *stillī,[1] reconstructed by Orel as Proto-Germanic *stelljaz.[5] It is cognate with Old Frisian stille, Old Saxon stilli, Middle Dutch stille, Dutch stil, Old High German stilli and German still.[2][6][3] The base meant "to be fixed, stand":[6][4][7] Etymonline derives it from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to put, stand, put in order”),[2] and it is related to stall.[3][7][8] Klein explains the adjective as properly "that which stands", as in “standing water”.[8] The adverb was already used in Old English, like stillo and stillo,[6][4] and the verb is stillan, made from the adjective and cognate with Old Norse stilla and stillen.[2][6][8] Still life follows stilleven.[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Motionless, stationary: about 725, in Beowulf, according to Barnhart;[3] the OED's first quotation is from Alfred's translation of Boethius.[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense "quiet, calm, silent" arose in later Old English, before 1000.[3][2] Johnson (1755) gave "silent; uttering no noise" as the first sense.[11] The adverb developed from "without moving" through "without change, continually" (about 1200) and "at all times" (about 1300) to "even now, yet": Ayto describes this as a metaphorical shift.[2][7] Barnhart dates "even now" to 1535 and the sense "even, yet" with comparatives (still more) to 1730,[3] Etymonline the latter to the 1590s.[2] The conjunction, "nevertheless", is first found in 1722, in Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year.[3][2] The noun "a calm" is recorded before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[3] and the still of the night from about 1600.[2] The still small voice of conscience comes from the King James Bible (1 Kings 19:12), where Coverdale in 1535 had a styll softe hyssinge.[2][12] In 1777 still wine was distinguished from sparkling wine.[6] From 1916 a still was a photograph as opposed to a moving film.[2][3] The sense "dead" survives only in stillborn (with stillbirth, 1785) and still life.[10][3] In Scotland and the north of England still also meant reserved or taciturn, and still and all meant "nevertheless".[13]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – motionless, stationary.[3]
  • before 1000 – quiet, silent.[3][2]
  • Old English – verb, to calm (waves, winds).[6]
  • c. 1200 – noun, a calm; adverb, without change, continually.[3][2]
  • c. 1300 – adverb, always.[2][6]
  • 1535 – adverb, even now, yet.[3][2]
  • c. 1600 – the still of the night.[2]
  • 1722 – conjunction, nevertheless.[3][2]
  • 1777 – of wine, not sparkling.[6]
  • 1916 – a still photograph.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not moving; motionless: Keep still while I fix your collar.[14][15][6]
  2. Calm and undisturbed; quiet or silent: a still evening.[14][15]
  3. Of a drink, not sparkling: still water.[14][6]
  4. (archaic) Of a voice, soft and subdued.[6][14]

Adverb

  1. Up to and including the present or a stated time; even now: Are you still awake?[14][15]
  2. Even, yet, with comparatives: still better.[14][2]
  3. Nevertheless; all the same.[14][15]
  4. Without moving: Sit still.[15][6]

Noun

  1. Silence, calm: the still of the night.[15][4]
  2. A still photograph, especially one taken from or for a film.[15][2]

Verb

  1. To make calm or quiet; to allay: The news stilled her fears.[15][6]
  2. To become calm or quiet.[15][6]

Conjunction

  1. Nevertheless, but.[15][3]

Word family

  • stillness
  • stillbirth
  • stillborn
  • still-hunt
  • stock-still
  • stilly

still2 apparatus for distilling

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1300 before 1300, King Horn
From
Middle English stillen
Ultimate origin
Latin stilla

Etymology

The word for the apparatus is a noun use of the verb meaning "to distil",[6][4][10] inherited from Middle English stillen (“to distil; to fall by drops, trickle”),[2][3] a shortening of distillen, that is distill.[2][6][3][15] That verb is from Old French distiller, from Latin distillō (“to drip, trickle down”),[8][7] formed from dē- and stillō (“to drop, trickle”), from stilla (“a drop”).[8][7] Merriam-Webster derives the obsolete sense "to trickle down" instead from stiller, from the same Latin verb.[15] The Anglo-Norman distiller is recorded from about 1325.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of liquid, to trickle down or fall in drops: before 1300, in King Horn;[6] Barnhart dates the verb to about 1225.[3] The noun, an apparatus for distilling, is first recorded in 1562.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb also meant to melt into tears (1412, in Lydgate) and to let fall in drops (from 1530); from before 1400 it also meant to distil a liquid.[6] The noun is recorded first, in 1533, for a still-room, a sense obsolete by 1654;[6] the apparatus follows in 1562,[6][3] and Etymonline gives "a distillery" from the 1530s,[2] the OED from 1845.[6] Small-still whisky, supposedly better because made in a small still, is Scottish and Anglo-Irish from 1822.[6] In English dialects a still-house was a distillery, and still-waters could be home-made illicit spirits.[13] Weekley notes that the still-room became the housekeeper's store-room.[10] In American slang from 1879 a still or still-tub was a quiet drunkard, a pun on both words spelled still.[17]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – verb, to trickle down in drops (obsolete by 1690).[6]
  • before 1400 – verb, to distil.[6]
  • 1533 – noun, a still-room (obsolete).[6][15]
  • 1562 – an apparatus for distilling.[6][3]
  • 1822 – small-still whisky.[6]
  • 1845 – a distillery.[6] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1530s.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An apparatus for distillation, especially of spirits, with a vessel for heating and a condenser: an illegal still in the hills.[15][14][6]
  2. A distillery.[15][6]

Verb

  1. To distil: still brandy from plums.[15][6]
  2. (obsolete, 1300–1690) To trickle down in fine drops.[15][6]

Word family

  • stillroom
  • stillman
  • stillhouse

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  16. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

  • eldest · also from Old English
  • scrub · also from Old English
  • shale · also from Old English
  • midway · also from Old English
  • ale · also from Old English
  • pike · also from Old English
  • strand · also from Old English
  • staple · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Still.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/still. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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