TYPEWRITER is one of the longest common words that can be typed using only the top row of a QWERTY keyboard, though three obscure 11-letter words (rupturewort, proprietory, and proterotype) technically hold the record.
The Keyboard's Hidden Word Record
For decades, trivia buffs have celebrated TYPEWRITER as the longest word you can type using only one row of a QWERTY keyboard. It's a neat party trick: all 10 letters live on the top row (QWERTYUIOP), making it satisfyingly smooth to type.
But here's the plot twist: TYPEWRITER isn't actually the longest.
The Real Champions
Three 11-letter words can be typed using only the top row, each one letter longer than TYPEWRITER:
- Rupturewort – A medicinal herb used in the 1500s to treat hernias, now grown as decorative ground cover
- Proprietory – An archaic alternate spelling of "proprietary"
- Proterotype – A biological taxonomy term meaning "primary type"
These words are obscure enough that most dictionaries barely acknowledge them, which is why TYPEWRITER still dominates bar bets and trivia nights.
Why TYPEWRITER Became Famous
Early typewriter salespeople loved this quirk. Demonstrating a machine by typing "TYPEWRITER" using just the top row was a clever sales tactic—it made the device look easier to master than it actually was.
The word also shares its 10-letter crown with PERPETUITY, PROPRIETOR, and REPERTOIRE, all equally valid top-row champions in everyday English.
The Other Rows
What about the middle row? The longest word using only ASDFGHJKL is SHAKALSHAS (also 10 letters), though it's even more obscure than rupturewort.
The bottom row (ZXCVBNM) produces much shorter results—the keyboard's awkward stepchild when it comes to word records.
So while TYPEWRITER deserves its fame as the most famous single-row word, the actual record holders are a medicinal plant, an outdated spelling, and a biology term that almost nobody uses. Sometimes the truth is less catchy than the myth.