typist
Americannoun
-
typists
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of typist
1835–45 for earlier sense “typesetter”; 1880–85 for current sense; type + -ist
Explanation
If you work as a typist in an office, you'll be typing up notes, reports, emails, or manuscripts. Nowadays, a typist typically uses a computer keyboard. Once upon a time, typists did all their typing on typewriters, but that's extremely unusual in today's era of computers and printers. Starting around 1884, a typist was "a person who operates a typewriter," although earlier the word meant "compositer," or the person who arranges type in a printing press. Typist comes from type, which derives from the Greek root typos, "dent, impression, or mark."
Vocabulary lists containing typist
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It’s for any typist in your life, especially millennials nostalgic for the see-through gadgets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 23, 2025
It took the city 377 business days to approve a list of candidates for a clerk typist position and 362 calendar days for a position at the Long Beach port, he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2024
Musk himself has already talked about a future where his device could allow people to communicate with a phone or computer "faster than a speed typist or auctioneer".
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024
For years, as a two-finger typist, he exuberantly turned out one major article after another.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Our Cavendish typist was not on hand, and the brief job was given to my sister.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
Pen-and-ink clerks who struggled to top 20 words a minute were displaced by typists who could top 60 wpm, especially if they used new touch-typing techniques pioneered by a Cincinnati stenographer, Elizabeth Longley.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025
Everyone working on the inquiry was offered support due to the traumatic nature of the evidence, from detectives to the typists tasked with transcribing interviews.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2025
This kept an entire pool of court reporters, secretaries, and typists endlessly busy for the duration of the nearly yearlong proceedings.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2024
By recording the sounds of someone typing on a keyboard while using Zoom, researchers Joshua Harrison, Ehsan Toreini and Maryam Mehrnezhad said they discovered a way to reveal what the typists write.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 7, 2023
Major Major strode with dignity to the rear of the orderly room without glancing at any of the clerks and typists working at the desks and filing cabinets.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
