movable type

/ˈmuvəbəl taɪp/

Other forms: movable types

Movable type is a method of printing text that involves arranging separate characters or letters on metal pieces. Before the invention of movable type, books had to be copied by hand, one at a time.

Movable type was invented in second century China during the Northern Song dynasty, first using porcelain type to reproduce books and later metal pieces for printing paper money. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the 1400s brought movable type into widespread use. Suddenly printers could produce thousands of pages each day! Movable type gets its name from the way a typesetter moves each piece of type into place, forming lines to be printed.

Definitions of movable type

1. noun

   printing type in which blocks bearing individual characters can be moved and assembled in any combination
   type of:

   type

   a small metal block bearing a raised character on one end; produces a printed character when inked and pressed on paper