keypad

Etymology

It is formed from English key + pad,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} after keyboard.^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of New Words explains it as keys set on a pad, smaller than the board of a keyboard.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In some wind instruments, a soft pad on the cup of each key that covers and seals the hole when the key is pressed: 1888, in the English Mechanic.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a small panel of keys or buttons for working a device, is recorded from 1966, in a United States patent,^[2][4] though Etymonline dates it to 1968 and the 1989 edition of the OED and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate to 1975.^[3][8][9] The Oxford Dictionary of New Words says the word came into use in the mid-1970s with teletext systems, and was soon applied to television remote controls and to the push-button controls that replaced dials on telephones.^[7] Computer keyboards then gained a separate numeric keypad, usable as a calculator.^[7][10][6]

Timeline

• 1888 – a pad on a key of a wind instrument.^[2]
• 1966 – a small panel of keys or buttons for operating a device.^[2][4] Etymonline dates it to 1968.^[3]
• mid-1970s – keypads for teletext, then for television remote controls and push-button telephones.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small panel of buttons or keys, often held in the hand, for operating a device such as a telephone, remote control or calculator: He typed the door code on the keypad.^[4][2][7][9]
2. A separate group of number and function keys on a computer keyboard, laid out for fast data entry.^[10][7][6]
3. (music) In some wind instruments, a soft pad on a key that covers and seals a hole when the key is pressed.^[2]

Word family

• numeric keypad

Related words

• key
• pad
• keyboard

Usage notes

It is also written as two words, key pad.^[7] A keypad usually has fewer keys than a keyboard, set out in a roughly square grid.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Knowles, Elizabeth; Elliott, Julia, eds. (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin