still-life

English

Alternative forms

• still life UK?

Noun

still-life (plural still-lifes)

1. A painting of a living object that is stationary.

Usage notes

Children in elementary school are taught that compound words that have the same letter at the end of the first word as the first letter of the second word, retain both unless an impossible three letter combination would result. In that case, use a hyphen, instead. Still-life is often given as an example to those students as the best example of this situation.