"function key" meaning in English

See function key in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: function keys [plural]
Etymology: First use appears c. 1930 in the listing of U.S. Patents. Head templates: {{en-noun}} function key (plural function keys)
  1. (computing) Any of a set of keys on a personal computer or terminal keyboard used to activate a predefined or programmable function, especially a numbered row of keys (F1, F2, etc.) above the alphanumeric keys. Wikipedia link: function key Categories (topical): Buttons, Computing Translations (computing: key that activates a function): funktionstast (Danish), funkuknappur (Faroese), funktionäppäin (Finnish), toimintonäppäin (Finnish), aðgerðarhnappur [masculine] (Icelandic), funksjonstast (Norwegian Bokmål), funksjonstast (Norwegian Nynorsk), klawisz funkcyjny [masculine] (Polish), tecla de função [feminine] (Portuguese), funktionstangent [common-gender] (Swedish)

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for function key meaning in English (3.3kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1930 in the listing of U.S. Patents.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "function keys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "function key (plural function keys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Buttons",
          "orig": "en:Buttons",
          "parents": [
            "Mechanisms",
            "Machines",
            "Technology",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Computing",
          "orig": "en:Computing",
          "parents": [
            "Technology",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of a set of keys on a personal computer or terminal keyboard used to activate a predefined or programmable function, especially a numbered row of keys (F1, F2, etc.) above the alphanumeric keys."
      ],
      "id": "en-function_key-en-noun-9AxLwxKv",
      "links": [
        [
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        ],
        [
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          "personal computer"
        ],
        [
          "terminal",
          "terminal"
        ],
        [
          "keyboard",
          "keyboard"
        ],
        [
          "activate",
          "activate"
        ],
        [
          "predefined",
          "predefined"
        ],
        [
          "programmable",
          "programmable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing) Any of a set of keys on a personal computer or terminal keyboard used to activate a predefined or programmable function, especially a numbered row of keys (F1, F2, etc.) above the alphanumeric keys."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "word": "funktionstast"
        },
        {
          "code": "fo",
          "lang": "Faroese",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "word": "funkuknappur"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "word": "funktionäppäin"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "word": "toimintonäppäin"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "aðgerðarhnappur"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "word": "funksjonstast"
        },
        {
          "code": "nn",
          "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "word": "funksjonstast"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "klawisz funkcyjny"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "tecla de função"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "funktionstangent"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "function key"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "function key"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1930 in the listing of U.S. Patents.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "function keys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "function key (plural function keys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "en:Buttons",
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of a set of keys on a personal computer or terminal keyboard used to activate a predefined or programmable function, especially a numbered row of keys (F1, F2, etc.) above the alphanumeric keys."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
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        ],
        [
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        ],
        [
          "terminal",
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        ],
        [
          "keyboard",
          "keyboard"
        ],
        [
          "activate",
          "activate"
        ],
        [
          "predefined",
          "predefined"
        ],
        [
          "programmable",
          "programmable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing) Any of a set of keys on a personal computer or terminal keyboard used to activate a predefined or programmable function, especially a numbered row of keys (F1, F2, etc.) above the alphanumeric keys."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "word": "funktionstast"
    },
    {
      "code": "fo",
      "lang": "Faroese",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "word": "funkuknappur"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "word": "funktionäppäin"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "word": "toimintonäppäin"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "aðgerðarhnappur"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "word": "funksjonstast"
    },
    {
      "code": "nn",
      "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "word": "funksjonstast"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "klawisz funkcyjny"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "tecla de função"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "computing: key that activates a function",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "funktionstangent"
    }
  ],
  "word": "function key"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.