Glossary » QWERTY keyboard
QWERTY keyboard
the standard North American keyboard layout (pronounced KWER-TEE), named for the first 6 letters that appear along the top-left row. Primary alphabetic keys are arranged in three rows as follows:
QWERTYUIOP
ASDFGHJKL;
ZXCVBNM,./
The layout is thought to have been purposeful to prevent typing from being too fast and thus prevent jamming on early typewriters. The most popular alternative is the Dvorak keyboard, which was intentionally designed to allow typing to be as fast as possible.
