Static

How to spell static

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce static

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does static mean?

1. adjectiveNot moving, changing, or developing; fixed in one state.
2. nounA build-up of electrical charge, or the crackling interference it causes on a radio or recording.

Static in a sentence

• adjective

  Sales figures stayed static for the whole financial year.

• noun

  The wool jumper crackled with static as she pulled it over her head.

• adjective

  The layout of the page remained static no matter how the user scrolled.

• noun

  Poor reception filled the broadcast with hissing static.

Where does static come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word descends from the Greek statikos, meaning 'causing to stand' or 'concerning weight at rest', which was built on the verb histanai, 'to make stand'. It reached English through the Latin staticus and the related scientific term statica, the study of bodies in equilibrium. By the seventeenth century 'static' described forces or weights that balance and do not move, and from there it broadened to mean anything fixed or unchanging. In the early twentieth century radio engineers borrowed it for the crackling interference heard on receivers, since this was associated with stationary electrical charge in the air. The same stat- root that means 'standing still' also gives us 'statue', 'station' and 'status', a useful reminder that the single 't' before the '-ic' is never doubled.

How the word is built

• stat- (from Greek statikos: causing to stand, stationary)
• -ic (adjective suffix)