Etymology
1. c.1470, "symbol, emblem," from L.
typus "figure, image, form, kind," from Gk.
typos "dent, impression, mark, figure, original form," from root of
typtein "to strike, beat," from PIE base
*(s)teu- "to strike, cut, hew" (see steep (adj.)). Extended 1713 to printing blocks with letters carved on them. The meaning "general form or character of some kind, class" is first in Eng. 1843, though it had that sense in L. and Gk. The verb meaning "to write with a typewriter" is attested from 1888.
Typewriter in the mechanical sense is attested from 1868;
typist is recorded from 1843.
Typeface first attested 1887.
Type-cast (adj. and v.) with ref. to actors is recorded from 1946, perhaps a deliberate pun on the verbal phrase in the print type founding sense (attested from 1847). To
be someone's type "be the sort of person that person is attracted to" is recorded from 1934.
2. From Middle English type (“symbol, figure, emblem”), from Latin typus, from Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “mark, impression, type”), from τύπτω (túptō, “to strike, beat”).
Verbs referencing "type"
Dutch
typen, German, old spelling
tippen, Scots Gaelic
taidhp, Welsh
teipio, Spanish
tipear, Macanese tipâ.