Backspace

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbækˌspeɪs/

Definitions

1. A function on a keyboard enabling the deletion of a character preceding the cursor's location while typing text
2. An action that allows users to remove previously typed characters by moving left in the text input area
3. A keyboard key that removes the character immediately before the cursor position when pressed ; the process of erasing the character to the left of the insertion point in text input

Etymology: The backspace key takes its name from the plain instruction it gives the cursor: move one step back, and remove what lies in that space. "Back" is the ordinary English word for the rear or the direction behind, and "space" is the gap or position a character occupies, so the compound describes exactly what the key does, one character backward at a time. The name belongs to the typewriter era, when a backspace key moved the carriage or print head back one position so a typist could overstrike a mistake. On screens the same key came to erase the character just before the cursor, and the term outlived the mechanism behind it. The word is a plain compound, with no borrowing, coinage drama or shift in meaning to tell.

Synonyms: delete, erase, remove, clear, cancel