Type
nounA category of people or things sharing common characteristics.
How to spell type
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce type
What does type mean?
- nounA category of people or things sharing common characteristics.
- verbTo write text by pressing the keys of a keyboard.
Type in a sentence
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noun
This type of contract offers better protection for tenants.
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verb
He can type faster than he can write by hand.
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noun
The clinic records each patient's blood type before surgery.
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verb
Please type your password into the second field.
Where does type come from?
Language of origin: Greek
The word comes from the Greek typos, which literally meant a blow or the mark left by one, and so came to mean an impression, a stamp, or a figure pressed into a surface. That noun was built on the verb typtein, meaning 'to strike or beat'. Latin borrowed it as typus, meaning a figure or image, and the word travelled into English in the 1400s, at first carrying religious and symbolic senses of an emblem or representation. When movable metal letters arrived with printing, the small raised blocks that struck ink onto paper were naturally called 'type', preserving the original idea of a mark made by striking. From the printed block the meaning broadened to mean a category or class sharing common features, and the modern verb 'to type', meaning to produce text on a keyboard, descends directly from working a typewriter.
How the word is built
- type (from Greek typos: a mark or impression made by striking)
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