qwerty

adj

1. (alt-of, not-comparable)Alternative letter-case form of QWERTY.

   “It was the Monotype model D keyboard introduced in 1907 which became the standard for printers, with a "qwerty" typewriter lay and removable keybars which made the keyboard independent of the matrix case arrangement.”

   “The typewriter using separate characters on type bars striking on a cylinder soon dominated the market. Because adjacent striking bars tended to jam when struck rapidly, manufacturers abandoned the alphabetical placement of letters on the keyboard in favor of the left-to-right "qwerty" disposition that takes into account the frequency and sequence of letters in English.”

2. (alt-of, not-comparable)Alternative letter-case form of QWERTY.

noun

1. (attributive, uncountable)A standard layout of keys on a keyboard for typing, in which the leftmost keys of the top lettered row are Q-W-E-R-T-Y.

   “It was the Monotype model D keyboard introduced in 1907 which became the standard for printers, with a "qwerty" typewriter lay and removable keybars which made the keyboard independent of the matrix case arrangement.”

   “The ‘QWERTY’ layout of keyboards is also a cause for concern. The design means that the fingers of the left hand (the less dominant hand for most Westerners) do 57 per cent of the work in typing English text. RSI symptoms are often found to be more intense in the left hand of keyboard users.”

   “The typewriter using separate characters on type bars striking on a cylinder soon dominated the market. Because adjacent striking bars tended to jam when struck rapidly, manufacturers abandoned the alphabetical placement of letters on the keyboard in favor of the left-to-right "qwerty" disposition that takes into account the frequency and sequence of letters in English.”

2. (countable)A keyboard with such a layout.

   “If you need to get a grip on a remote workstation, remote-control software can put your fingers on the pearly white QWERTYs of any computer, even half a world away.”