What does typewriter mean?
A typewriter is a machine operated by pressing keys to print letters and other characters onto paper. Before personal computers and word processors became widespread, typewriters were essential tools for writing letters, reports, manuscripts, and other documents, and they became especially associated with journalists, writers, offices, and government work. The word can also be used as a verb, as in “she typewrote the letter,” although this form sounds deliberately traditional or nostalgic today. A typewriter has a distinctive keyboard and usually prints through an inked ribbon, producing the sharp mechanical sound familiar from stories about newsrooms and literary offices. Although most modern writing is done with computers, phones, or tablets, the term remains useful for describing historical technology and for evoking a bygone era of practical, tangible writing tools.
A mechanical or electronic device with a keyboard that prints letters, numbers, and punctuation onto paper.
"The old typewriter sat on the desk beside a stack of blank paper."
Often used in historical, literary, or nostalgic contexts.
To write or produce text using a typewriter.
"She typewrote the invitation and addressed it by hand."
Less common than type in modern English and somewhat literary or dated.
The standard plural is typewriters.
"The shop repairs antique typewriters and their ribbons."
Before email and smartphones, a typewriter made thoughts visible with the satisfying clack of keys and a ribbon of ink.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does typewriter come from?
Typewriter is a nineteenth-century compound of type and writer, a word formed to name a machine that writes with types or movable printing characters. The element type comes through Latin typus from Greek typos, a word associated with impression or form, while writer is an ordinary English agent noun formed from write. Related words such as typography and typist belong to the same broader tradition of writing and printing, although they developed along different semantic paths.
Related word forms
How typewriter is actually used
As a noun, typewriter is still common in historical, literary, and nostalgic contexts. As a verb, it is somewhat literary or dated, and type is usually more natural in contemporary usage.
Easily confused with typewriter
A typist is the person who operates a typewriter or keyboard, while a typewriter is the machine itself.