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keyboard

UK/ˈkiːbɔːd/US/ˈki.bɔɹd/
nounB1+2 meaningsCommon in everyday speech and writing · #6,257 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: keyboards

A keyboard is the board of letter buttons you type on. Six rows, and the letters in an order nobody would choose today.

That order is called QWERTY, designed for mechanical typewriters and kept out of habit ever since. Computers, phones and tills all have one, real or on a screen. There is an entirely separate musical sense, since a piano has a keyboard and a keyboard is also an electronic instrument in its own right. A keyboardist plays one in a band, and keyboard shortcuts are what make anybody fast at a computer.

MichaelMaggs · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of keyboard

  1. 1nounkeyboardThe set of keys used for typing on a computer or typewriter.B1+

    “He spilled tea into the keyboard.”

  2. 2nounmusicalThe set of keys on a musical instrument, or the instrument itself.B1

    “She plays keyboard in a band at weekends.”

Where it comes from

From key + board. From key + board.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Technology & Internet, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 1 of A Man Called Ove.

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Related words

  • keyboard navigation