QWERTZ

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The QWERTZ keyboard is a computer and typewriter keyboard that is normally used in German-speaking regions. The name comes from the first six letters at the top left of the keyboard: Q, W, E, R, T, and Z.

It differs from the QWERTY layout by interchanging the "Z" and "Y" keys — both because "Z" is a much more common letter than "Y" in German (the latter seldom appearing except in borrowed words), and because "T" and "Z" often appear next to each other in the German language. Part of the keyboard is adapted to include local diacritics, such as é, ö, à, ä, è and ü.

Models based on QWERTZ are used in German- Italian- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland, and in the majority of Eastern Europe and Central Europe countries that use the Latin alphabet, with the exception of Estonia and Lithuania.

A QWERTZ keyboard layout is sometimes informally nicknamed a kezboard, as typing the word keyboard in the QWERTY manner on a QWERTZ keyboard would generate the sequence kezboard. The same is true for QWERTY-Keyboards in the hands of a person used to a QWERTZ layout.

See also

fr:QWERTZ ko:QWERTZ nl:QWERTZ pl:QWERTZ