What does daisywheel mean?
A daisywheel is a detachable printing element used in impact printers and electronic typewriters of the late twentieth century. Shaped like a wheel with flexible plastic or metal petals radiating from a central hub, it takes its name from its resemblance to the common daisy flower. Each petal carries a single raised character; when printing, the wheel spins rapidly to bring the required character into position, where a hammer strikes it against an inked ribbon and paper. Because each wheel held one fixed set of characters, changing fonts or typefaces required physically swapping the daisywheel — a slow but reliable process that produced crisp, letter-quality text prized for business correspondence. The term also applies by extension to the daisywheel printers themselves, which dominated offices until faster dot-matrix and later laser technologies displaced them.
nounA removable printing element shaped like a wheel, with petals or spokes each bearing a raised character, used in impact printers known as daisywheel printers.
- The wheel-shaped print element with character-bearing petals used in daisywheel printers and electronic typewriters.
"The technician swapped the daisywheel so the invoice could be printed in a different typeface."
"She replaced the worn daisywheel before printing the final draft."
"Because each petal of the daisywheel held a single character, changing fonts meant physically swapping the wheel."
Regular plural formation.
"The supply cabinet held several daisywheels in assorted typefaces."
The daisywheel got its name because its character-tipped petals made it look like a flower — and it gave typewriters of the early 1980s laser-sharp letters at a glacial pace.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of daisywheel
The word combines 'daisy', from Old English 'dæges ēage' meaning 'day's eye', with 'wheel', from Old English 'hweol'. It was coined in the late 1960s or early 1970s as a descriptive trade name for the flower-like print wheels developed for letter-quality impact printers, notably in Diablo and Qume devices. As a modern compound coinage, it has no cognates beyond the ordinary English words that form it.
How daisywheel is actually used
A technical term from computing history, current mainly in discussions of 1970s–1980s office equipment; it refers both to the wheel itself and, by extension, to daisywheel printers. Now largely obsolete in everyday use.
Easily confused with daisywheel
A laser printer is a non-impact printer using toner and a laser to produce text, whereas a daisywheel is the character-stamped print element of an older impact printer.