English

still

/ˈstɪl/
Not moving; calm.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    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).

    Etymology 2

    Via Middle English stillen, clip of distillen; Old French distiller; Latin distillare, from dis- + stillare, from Latin stilla.

    Etymology 3

    Inherited from Old English stillan.

    Etymology 4

    Aphetic form of distil, or from Latin stillare.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*(s)telH- “to be silent; to be still”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishstille “motionless, stationary”
      • inheritedOld Englishstille “still, quiet”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*stillī
    • derivedLatinstilla “a drop”
    • derivedLatinstillare

    Related: Scots stil, Saterland Frisian stil, West Frisian stil, Dutch stil, Low German still, German still, Swedish stilla, Icelandic stilltur

    Sources