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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of QWERTY

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

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