What does "dvorak" mean?

Describing an optimized keyboard layout for the English language, in which the alphabet is arranged in the order PYFGCRL on the top row, AOEUIDHTNS on the middle, or home row, and QJKXBMWVZ on the bottom row, thus placing the letters most frequently used in the home row. Many variants on Dvorak layouts also exist, including keyboards for right-hand-only and left-hand-only-typists.

What is a synonym for "dvorak"?

Common synonyms include: antonin dvorak, qwerty.

Dvorak

//ˈdvɔɹʒɑk// adj, name

adj, name ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Describing an optimized keyboard layout for the English language, in which the alphabet is arranged in the order PYFGCRL on the top row, AOEUIDHTNS on the middle, or home row, and QJKXBMWVZ on the bottom row, thus placing the letters most frequently used in the home row. Many variants on Dvorak layouts also exist, including keyboards for right-hand-only and left-hand-only-typists. not-comparable
"Dvorak keyboard"

Proper Noun

1
A surname from Czech, especially
2
A surname from Czech, especially; Antonín Leopold Dvořák (1841–1904), Czech composer of Romantic music.

Synonyms

All synonyms

antonin dvorak qwerty

Example

More examples

"Have you ever used a Dvorak keyboard?"

Etymology

From Czech Dvořák, from Old Czech dvořák (“attendant, tenant farmer”), equivalent to dvůr (“court, courtyard, estate, farm”) + -ák (“-er, -an: forming related nouns”). The keyboard is named after the American inventor August Dvorak.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.