Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or designating the traditional configuration of computer or typewriter keyboard keys.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Alternative capitalization of qwerty

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From the first six letters at the upper left.]

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Examples

  • The Dvorak Zine has a free comic that narrates the storied history of the miserable QWERTY layout and its superior cousin, Dvorak, which practically no one uses, despite that fact that QWERTY is slow, gives you RSI, and is the keyboard layout most frequently employed by baby-eating sociopaths.

    Boing Boing 2007

  • U.S. customers can now order the first two editions of Treo - the Treo 180 with a built-in QWERTY keyboard, and the

    Archive 2002-02-01 Lori 2002

  • U.S. customers can now order the first two editions of Treo - the Treo 180 with a built-in QWERTY keyboard, and the

    Handspring Treo now available Lori 2002

  • This layout is commonly called QWERTY after the order of the first few letters on its top row.

    doggdot.us 2009

  • This layout is commonly called QWERTY after the order of the first few letters on its top row.

    doggdot.us 2009

  • Amos Densmore, and educator and brother of Sholes 'main investor, conducted a study of letter pairings and came up with information that led Sholes to create what we now know as the QWERTY keyboard (so-called for the first 6 letters on the top row of letters on the keyboard), which was added to his patent for improvements on the typewriter in 1878.

    Kate Kelly: Why Our 21st Century Keyboards Retain Vestiges of the Past 2009

  • Our modern keyboard designknown as QWERTY for its first row of letter keyswas designed in 1868 by printer Christopher Sholes for use on manual typewriters.

    Behind The Blank Slate THIS DOES NOT SYNDICATE David M. Ewalt 2006

  • Our story concerns the history of the standard typewriter keyboard, commonly known as QWERTY, and its more recent rival, the Dvorak keyboard.

    doggdot.us 2009

  • Tired: Text-entry screen is alphabetical instead of QWERTY, which is just A-B-C-Dumb.

    TechnologyOwl.com 2008

  • Most smartphones use some variation of the standard "QWERTY" computer keyboard, either as a touch screen like the iPhone or as raised keys located below the main display or on a slide-out keyboard.

    Jason Alderman: To Smartphone, or Not to Smartphone? Jason Alderman 2010

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