hotkey

hot·key
H4O1T1K5E1Y4
/ˈhɒtkiː/

noun

A keyboard shortcut.

Less commonScrabble 16
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Meanings

nounhotkey (plural hotkeys)

plural hotkeys · alternative hot key

  1. computingA keyboard shortcut.
verbhotkey (third-person singular simple present hotkeys, present participle hotkeying, simple past and past participle hotkeyed)

present singular third person hotkeys · participle present hotkeying · participle past hotkeyed · past hotkeyed · alternative hot key

  1. intransitivecomputingTo navigate by means of a keyboard shortcut.

    All of the sales talk about hotkeying between 3270 sessions and DOS applications sounds great until you try to squeeze the DOS applications into the PC while it's emulating a terminal.

    1988, PC Mag, volume 7, number 21, page 183

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
keyboard shortcut

Origin

From hot + key.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hotkey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hotkey

MLA

“hotkey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hotkey. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hotkey,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hotkey.

Source: hotkey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.