keyboard

View more Technology videos

A set of input keys on a terminal or computer. It includes the standard typewriter keys, several specialized keys and the features outlined below. See QWERTY keyboard, Dvorak keyboard, AZERTY keyboard and virtual keyboard.

Enter (Return) Key

In text applications, it ends a paragraph or short line. In data applications, it signals the end of the input for that field or line.

Cursor Keys

The four arrow keys move the cursor on screen. They are used in conjunction with shift, alt and control to move the cursor in bigger jumps; for example, CONTROL UP ARROW might scroll the screen. Some earlier keyboards didn't have cursor keys, in which case, control or alt was used with some letter key.

Control, Alt, Command and Option Keys

Used like a shift key, these keys are held down while another key is pressed to command the computer in a variety of ways.

Escape Key

Commonly used to exit or cancel the current mode such as exiting from a menu. Also used to clear an area or repeat a function such as redrawing the screen.

Numeric Lock

Locks a combination number/cursor keypad into numeric mode only.

Home and End Keys

Commonly used to move the cursor to the extreme left or right side of the current line. Often used in conjunction with shift, control and alt; for example, control-home and control-end usually move the cursor to the beginning and end of file.

Page Up/Page Down Keys

Used to move the cursor up and down a page, screen or frame. Often used in combination with shift, control and alt.

Function Keys

Used to call up a menu or perform a function, they are located in a cluster on the left side or in a row across the top of the keyboard (F1, F2, etc.). They are often used with the shift, control and alt keys to extend the number of options.

Backspace Key

Used to delete the character to the left of the cursor (erase typos) and may be used with the shift, control and alt keys to erase segments of text. The extra-wide, typewriter-style key is preferred.

Delete Key

Used to erase the character at the current cursor location. Used in conjunction with the shift, control and alt keys, it is used to erase any segment of text, such as a word, sentence or paragraph.

Insert Key

Usually a toggle switch to go back and forth between insert and overtype mode. Also used to "paste" a segment of text or graphics into the document at the current cursor location.

Repeating Keys

Most computer keys repeat when held down, a phenomenon first-time computer users must get used to. If you hold a key down that is used to command the computer, you'll be entering the command several times.

Audible Feedback

Keyboards may cause a click or beep to be heard from the computer when keys are pressed. This is done to acknowledge that the character has been entered. It should be adjustable for personal preference.

All Keyboards Are Not Equal

Keyboards feel different, and touch typists should spend a few hours with any keyboard, especially on a laptop, before purchasing it. Key placement is extremely important. Even the most popular laptop keyboards can have awkward cursor, page up/down, home and end key placements. It is not uncommon to have ridiculous designs such as the delete key next to a cursor key. For slow typists, all this means little. For fast typists, it is critical.

In addition, most keyboards today use a membrane technology underneath the keys that does not have the springiness and feel of earlier keyboards that used individual key switches. Premium keyboards from third parties do however still use the switches, and to a fast touch typist, the difference is dramatic. See mechanical keyboard, Maltron keyboard and Avant Stellar keyboard.

Keys Too Small for Your Fingers?

Try these for size. A young boy has fun on the giant keyboard in the Walk-Through Computer that opened at The Computer Museum in Boston at the end of 1995. (Image by FAYFOTO/John Rich; courtesy of The Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org.)

The Bat Keyboard

People with the use of only one hand can type on Infogrip's Bat keyboard by pressing keys like piano chords. Some people also use the Bat to type with one hand while they move the mouse with the other. (Image courtesy of Infogrip, www.infogrip.com)

What Happened to Innovation?

In the 1990s, Samsung introduced an excellent, ergonomic laptop keyboard that offered an adjustable V shape, and IBM introduced its famous TrackWrite keyboard. The latter, known as the "Butterfly" keyboard, popped out of the laptop into a full-size keyboard. There has been little innovation on laptop keyboards ever since. (TrackWrite image courtesy of Craig Leres, www.xse.com/leres)

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your PC, iPhone or Android.

1. Computer inpu/output device that resembles a typewriter and is used for key entry of data into a computer. A small version of a keyboard with only numeric keys is called a keypad. Keyboards are used to enter data to order fulfillment systems and to interact with electronic catalogs.

2. Keys on a piano or similar instrument.

Generic term for instruments whose playing mechanisms are operated from a keyboard. The oldest is the organ; other early types include such plucked instruments as the harpsichord, the virginal and the spinet, as well as the clavichord (a struck instrument); more recent examples include the pianoforte, the harmonium, the celesta, the glockenspiel and the synthesizer. The term ‘keyboard music’ is often used for music before 1750, much of which is intended for any available keyboard instrument rather than a specific type. See illustrations 1 and 2.

1. Keyboard instruments: external and internal views

2. Keyboard instruments: external and internal views, cont.

---

sign description: The fingers make a typing motion followed by the fingers outlining the shape of the keyboard.

---

For a list of words related to keyboard, see:

• Hardware and Peripherals - keyboard: device for inputting data by depressing keys that generate all standard characters (letters, digits, punctuation marks) and other keys that have special functions, such as cursor arrow keys or programmable function keys
• Instrument Types and Groupings - keyboard: any instrument composed of strings of varying lengths held taut and struck or plucked mechanically

---

See words rhyming with "keyboarder."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Keyboard.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - tastatur, klaviatur
v. tr. - skrive på tastaturet, spille

Nederlands (Dutch)
keyboard, toetsenbord, bord waar sleutels aangehangen worden, een keyboard bedienen

Français (French)
n. - clavier (d'un ordinateur)
v. tr. - (Comput, Typ) faire la saisie de, saisir

Deutsch (German)
n. - Keyboard, Tastatur, Klaviatur
v. - tasten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πληκτρολόγιο, κλαβιέ

Italiano (Italian)
tastiera, pianoforte elettrico

Português (Portuguese)
n. - teclado (m)

Русский (Russian)
клавиатура

Español (Spanish)
n. - teclado, consola
v. tr. - teclear, ingresar información a través de un teclado

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - klaviatur, tangentbord, keyboard, synt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
键盘, 钥匙板, 键盘乐器, 操作的键盘, 用键盘输入

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鍵盤, 鑰匙板, 鍵盤樂器
v. tr. - 操作的鍵盤, 用鍵盤輸入

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 악기의 건반
v. tr. - 식자기로 활자를 짜다, 입력시키다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 鍵盤
v. - キーをたたく

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) لوحه التشغيل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מקלדת, מערכת מקשים, פסנתר חשמלי‬
v. tr. - ‮הקיש‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.