joystick

American  

[joi-stik] / ˈdʒɔɪˌstɪk /

Or joy stick

noun

• joysticks
  plural

1. Informal. the control stick of an airplane, tank, or other vehicle.

2. Computers. a lever resembling this, used to control movement of a cursor or other graphic element for video games and computer graphics.

3. any leverlike switch for controlling, manipulating, guiding, or the like.

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joystick British  

/ ˈdʒɔɪˌstɪk /

noun

1. informal the control stick of an aircraft or of any of various machines

2. computing a lever by means of which the display on a screen may be controlled used esp for games, flight simulators, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• joysticks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of joystick

First recorded in 1905–10; joy + stick ¹

Explanation

A joystick is a handle-like device that you use to control your character in a video game. If you want your character to move left, you generally move the joystick to the left. Originally, a joystick was the control an airplane pilot uses to adjust the movements of the plane — by moving the joystick back and forth, the pilot adjusts the roll, and moving it up and down controls the pitch of the plane's nose. Joystick was aviators' slang for this lever, and the makers of the earliest video games, in the 1970s, adopted the word for their similarly-shaped control.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

joystick joysticks

Claw machine lover Neiki Lee carefully lowers the metal jaws of a crane with a joystick into a pool of prizes, only to have the small toy slip from its clutches again and again.

From Barron's ● May 31, 2026

It will just hang like that until you push the joystick forward.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025

"It was just little joystick video game controllers to make the camera pan and tilt, and that was just not precise enough," he recalls.

From BBC ● May 15, 2025

His motorized wheelchair whirring to life, “Rocket Rod” Foster uses the joystick attached to the end of an armrest to roll forward inside his West Los Angeles apartment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024

I cracked my knuckles and grabbed the Player Two joystick with my left hand, poising my right hand over the Flap button.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Encord’s Hansen said that there are warehouses planned in Eastern Europe where large teams of operators will sit with joysticks, guiding robots across the world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2025

The two joysticks accommodate righties or lefties, but you only use one to fly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025

A glimpse of what appeared to be a new Mario Kart game was also shown, and the video hinted that rumours about magnetic controller attachments and upgraded joysticks were true.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2025

From the safety of a room hundreds of miles away, the drones’ pilots pushed forward joysticks to accelerate, steer and swivel deck-mounted cameras, keeping their target in sight.

From New York Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

Holly nodded, curling her fingers around the twin joysticks.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer