A mechanical or electric machine for writing characters similar to those produced by a printer. Now largely obsolete, replaced by computers.
Compound word from 'type' (from Greek 'typos' meaning 'impression') and 'writer.' Coined in the 1860s when the first commercial typing machines were developed.
The QWERTY keyboard layout we still use today was designed for typewriters to prevent mechanical keys from jamming by separating commonly used letter pairs! Even though the mechanical limitation is gone, we're still 'typing' on a layout optimized for 19th-century technology because muscle memory is harder to change than machines.
Early typewriter use was feminized; women hired as 'typewriter girls' as deskilling strategy despite technical competence. Role became gendered clerical labor
Use neutrally; acknowledge typists as skilled professionals, not gendered support staff
["transcription device","writing machine"]
Women typists pioneered office technology and professionalized data entry; recognize as skilled operators, not interchangeable clerical workers
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