Keyway

For keyways used on shafts, see Keyway (engineering).

"Keyhole" redirects here. For other uses, see Keyhole (disambiguation).

A traditional keyway for a warded lock.

A keyway (or keyhole) is the shaped channel in a lock cylinder into which the key slides to gain access to the lock tumblers. Lock keyway shapes vary widely with lock manufacturer, and many manufacturers have a number of unique profiles requiring a specifically milled key blank to engage the lock's tumblers.

Background

Most people refer to lock keyways as keyholes, a linguistic carryover from the days when locks utilized big keys that actually entered the lock through a hole in the door.

See also

• Key (lock)
• Key relevance