Stylos

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Designating a slender, columnar structure or post often found in architecture
2. representing a pen or writing instrument, especially one with a pointed end
3. referring to a physical or metaphorical tool used for inscribing or making marks on a surface

Etymology: The word in front of you is the plural of "stylo", a clipping of "stylographic pen", so the first thing to know is that the singular is itself a shortened form. "Stylo" was made by cutting "stylographic pen" down to its first element, and "stylographic" combines "stylo-", a combining form drawn from Latin "stilus" and its relatives, with "graphic", from Greek "graphein", "to write." The pen was named for its style of writing rather than for any stylish quality. Plurals of clipped words are a little unusual in English, since "stylos" is simply the regular "-s" added to a shortened noun. Anyone seeing it for the first time would reasonably wonder whether it was an unfamiliar ancient word, but it is a modern coinage built on older roots.