QWERTY

noun

QWER·​TY ˈkwər-tē  ˈkwer- 

variants or QWERTY keyboard

often not capitalized

: a standard English-language typewriter or computer keyboard on which the first six letters of the second row are q, w, e, r, t, and y

QWERTY may not have had the most sensible keyboard arrangement, but it had the advantage that it had been out longer than most other designs. Throughout the 1880s, typewriters with a variety of keyboard layouts were sold, but in the 1890s the market moved more and more toward QWERTY, and by the first decade of the twentieth century it had taken over.

—Robert Pool

The QWERTY keyboard, a central artifact of the information economy, was arranged in the 1870s with a deliberately awkward pattern of letters to slow typists down so they wouldn't jam the innards of early typing machines.

—Timothy K. Smith

Did you know?

If you look at the topmost row of letters on your computer keyboard, you’ll see where the QWERTY got its name. Why did Christopher Latham Sholes choose that particular arrangement of letters when he was developing the modern typewriter in the late 1860s and early 1870s? Popular myth holds that the QWERTY maximizes efficiency by placing the most often used letters in the most accessible places, but the truth is that the QWERTY was actually designed to slow typists down. Sholes’s first typewriters were cumbersome and jammed easily if the keys were pressed too fast, so he picked letter positions that let the typist go faster than a pen, but not fast enough to bollix the machine.

Examples of QWERTY in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In short: Looking at a QWERTY keyboard and moving between the letters is a pretty distinct behavior. —Matt Burgess, WIRED, 12 Sep. 2024

The Sholes and Glidden typewriter introduced the world to the QWERTY keyboard layout that has blighted humanity ever since. —New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2024

The bottom of the case consists of a polycarbonate and silicone backlit QWERTY keyboard. —PCMAG, 15 July 2024

What’s more, QWERTY keyboards did a poor job of using keys to their full potential. —IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2024

But for the new Netflix thriller Heart of Stone, Gadot had to work to make something quite different believable: knowing her way around a QWERTY keyboard. —Dustin Nelson, EW.com, 16 Aug. 2023

There’s a full QWERTY layout as well a row of function keys across the top to adjust the volume, control media playback and more. —Nick Guy, wsj.com, 25 Sep. 2023

Regardless, after around 30 test models, Sholes and Glidden settled on QWERTY—and changed the world. —Nick Yetto, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Sep. 2023

Milwaukee celebrates 150th anniversary of universal, yet inefficient, QWERTY keyboard. —USA TODAY, 23 June 2023

Word History

Etymology

from the first six letters in the second row of the keyboard

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above

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