Other forms: styles
Style is the particular way somebody dresses or does something. Her style, a style of painting, that is not his style.
It also means having style — she has style — where the word alone means good taste. In writing, style covers both an individual voice and a set of conventions: house style is the set of rules a publisher applies. In hairdressing a style is a cut. And in computing, styles control how text looks. Note stylish, meaning fashionable, and stylistic, which is neutral and belongs to criticism.
1nounstyleThe way somebody does something or dresses.
“She has a style all her own.”
synonyms: manner, way
2nounrecognisedA recognised way of making something.
“It is built in an older style than the houses either side.”
3nouneleganceElegance and good taste.
“He does everything with a certain style.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
style is a manner or fashion.
Latin stilus was a pointed instrument for writing on wax — the same word as stylus. The sense of a manner of expression came from the way a person handled that instrument, and the spelling with a y is a Renaissance mistake based on wrongly assuming a Greek origin.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)teyg- — to be sharp; to pierce, prick, puncture, stab; to goad
Latin
stilus — pointed instrument; writing tool; composition; characteristic mode of expression; stem of a plant
Medieval Latin
stylus
Old French
estile
Middle English
stile — writing tool; piece of written work; characteristic mode of expression; demeanour; person's designation or title; stem of a plant; period of time
English, today
style
Built from
The noun is derived from Middle English stile (“writing tool; piece of written work; characteristic mode of expression; demeanour; person's designation or title; stem of a plant; period of time”) (compare semantic development to по́черк (“handwriting, style”)), from Old French estile, or from Medieval Latin stylus, both from Latin stilus (“pointed instrument; writing tool; composition; characteristic mode of expression; stem of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)teyg- (“to be sharp; to pierce, prick, puncture, stab; to goad”). a doublet of stylus. The verb is derived from the noun. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA