💳 A card reader 🦹 A thief 📱 A touchscreen user

swiper

1 4.9

A machine that reads the stripe on a credit or bank card when passed through

noun
/ˈswaɪpər/

Specialized

: lector de tarjetas

But one more "X" Solar Flare and we will all be back to CW on ELF—no 20GB credit card swipers!

Examples

We've got a portable electronic swiper.

Fat Pizza (2003)
The cashier used a swiper to process my credit card payment quickly.
To pay for his coffee, he passed his card through the swiper at the register.
At the event, they set up a swiper for guests to easily check in using their tickets.

How Advanced

contactless

1 3.7

smart card

Specialized

3 3.7

swiper

Specialized

1 4.9

imprinter

1 6.7

Surface Forms

swiper singular

swipers plural

Morphology

swiper = swipe (transparent) = swipe + er

An instrument noun formed by the productive suffix '-er' from the verb 'swipe'; learners who know the verb can infer the device meaning.

Etymology

The word swiper for a card reader comes from the verb swipe, which means 'to move something quickly across a surface'. So a swiper is the machine you slide your card through to read it.