joystick

American  

[joi-stik] / ˈdʒɔɪˌstɪk /

Or joy stick

noun

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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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

A bank of screens shows the largely barren seabed, as an operator uses a multi-jointed joystick to operate the robot's hydraulic arm from thousands of metres above.

From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026

The craft’s joystick controller is practically instinctive to game-trained teenagers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025

Using a joystick that wouldn't look out of a place on a gaming console, two engineers drive the underwater robot.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 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

He plops down in front of the Atari, picks up a joystick, and begins to play.

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