Jump To:

• QWERTY
  QWERTY

  adjective

  of or relating to a keyboard having the keys in traditional typewriter arrangement, with the letters q, w, e, r, t, and y being the first six of the top row of alphabetic characters, starting from the left side.
• qwerty
  qwerty

  noun

  the standard English language typewriter keyboard layout with the characters q, w, e, r, t, and y positioned on the top row of alphabetic characters at the left side of the keyboard

Trivia Time

What was the reason for having a QWERTY arrangement on keyboards?

Test Your Knowledge

QWERTY

American  

[kwur-tee, kwer-] / ˈkwɜr ti, ˈkwɛr- /

adjective

1. of or relating to a keyboard having the keys in traditional typewriter arrangement, with the letters q, w, e, r, t, and y being the first six of the top row of alphabetic characters, starting from the left side.

---

qwerty British  

/ ˈkwɜːtɪ /

noun

1. the standard English language typewriter keyboard layout with the characters q, w, e, r, t, and y positioned on the top row of alphabetic characters at the left side of the keyboard

---

Etymology

Origin of QWERTY

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

QWERTY qwerty

The idea is to marry Apple’s magical touch screen with BlackBerry’s clicking QWERTY.

From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2015

In a Sept. 25 Lexicon Valley blog post, Kieran Snyder misstated that the TiVO keyboard was not QWERTY.

From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2014

Here are other arguments the pro-cursive crowd uses to demand classroom time alongside QWERTY.

From Time ● Jun. 4, 2014

The only people who hate QWERTY, from what I can tell, are Dvorak-layout fans and efficiency experts.

From Forbes ● Mar. 30, 2014

Launched by SnapKeys, it's "a simple, smart alphabetic keyboard for any age that frees up your whole screen", with the somewhat bullish ambition of putting "an end to QWERTY" with its alphabetical layout.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 24, 2013

"The dedicated qwerty keyboard was an iconic design," he says.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2022

Tomlinson might have started with the first five letters on the upper left side of the typewriter, the ubiquitous if meaningless qwerty.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 25, 2016

The company relied on its own operating system and qwerty keyboard to once dominate the smartphone market by offering secure devices that made typing and emailing easier for bankers, lawyers and other professionals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2015

The main issue that the small size generates is the keyboard. With a screen width of just 2.25 inch, there’s not a lot of space for the on-screen qwerty keyboard.

From Forbes ● Sep. 27, 2014

A Japanese alphabet grid is a table of the basic 40 Japanese hiragana letters, and its English counterpart is a copy of the qwerty keyboard, drawn onto a card and laminated.

From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2013