typist
Americannoun
noun
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.
When did I become such a terrible iPhone typist?
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026
At 15, she joined the Yorkshire Evening Post as a typist, but was soon taken on as a reporter.
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2024
For years, as a two-finger typist, he exuberantly turned out one major article after another.
From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2024
Eileen did not appear to have writerly aspirations, though she did act as Orwell’s note taker, first reader, editor, typist, agent and more.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 18, 2023
In the morning the Germans run him through a second, more laconic spell of questioning while a typist clatters away in the corner.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
