Typo

How to spell typo

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce typo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does typo mean?

1. nounA small mistake in typed or printed text, such as a wrong, missing, or transposed letter.

Typo in a sentence

• She spotted a typo in the final paragraph just before sending the report.

• The menu had an obvious typo where the price read 'free' instead of 'three'.

Where does typo come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is a short, modern clipping of 'typographical error', a phrase that grew out of the printing trade. The first element traces back to the Greek typos, which literally meant a blow, an impression, or the mark left by striking something, the same root that gives us 'type' and 'typewriter'. The second part of the longer phrase comes from the Greek graphein, meaning 'to write', so a typographical error was originally a fault made while setting written characters in metal type. As printing and later typing became everyday work, the cumbersome phrase was trimmed to the brisk 'typo', a usage that appears in print from the early twentieth century. Because it is simply 'type' with an -o ending, the spelling holds no real trap; it is just worth remembering it keeps the single p of 'type'.

How the word is built

• clipped form of 'typographical error': typo- (from Greek typos: impression, mark)
• -graphical