todavía
still
An adverb built from the idea of continuing all the way to now
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
toda
all / whole
+
vía
way / path
Todavía means still and comes from toda0 vía1 — literally all the way0. Something that is todavía true has continued all the way up to now.
todavía
still, yet
Something that has continued all the way to this moment is still happening.
- Todavía estoy esperando su respuesta = I'm still waiting for his reply
- Todavía no hemos comido = We haven't eaten yet
even, still (comparative)
The "still going" idea works for degree too, not just time. The thing you're comparing to was already a lot — and we're still going past that.
- Tu hermana es alta, pero tú eres todavía más alta = Your sister is tall, but you are even taller
- Este examen fue todavía más difícil que el anterior = This exam was still harder than the last one