--edit-key列表的布局没有记录(无论如何我都找不到)。但是,您提到的缩写在信息页面(info gpg)中的某个位置。
我搜索了S:一下,发现我实际上是想搜索usage:。
在“ GPG密钥相关选项”中:
  4.2.1如何更改配置
  
  这些选项用于更改配置,通常可在选项文件中找到。 
'--list-options parameters'
 show-usage
      Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the standard
      key listing.  This is a list of letters indicating the allowed
      usage for a key ('E'=encryption, 'S'=signing,
      'C'=certification, 'A'=authentication).  Defaults to no.
因此,这样做gpg -k --list-options show-usage 1A3ABKEY将显示以下内容:
pub   rsa4096/1A3ABKEY 2015-01-25 [SC]
uid         [ultimate] Some Key
sub   rsa4096/4B907KEY 2015-09-19 [S]
sub   rsa4096/F9A41KET 2015-09-19 [E]
在“无人参与的GPG使用情况”中可以找到更多信息
  按键用法:USAGE-LIST
 Space or comma delimited list of key usages.  Allowed values are
 'encrypt', 'sign', and 'auth'.  This is used to generate the key
 flags.  Please make sure that the algorithm is capable of this
 usage.  Note that OpenPGP requires that all primary keys are
 capable of certification, so no matter what usage is given here,
 the 'cert' flag will be on.  If no 'Key-Usage' is specified and the
 'Key-Type' is not 'default', all allowed usages for that particular
 algorithm are used; if it is not given but 'default' is used the
 usage will be 'sign'.
因此,虽然信息尚不明显,但该信息仍在系统的某个位置。如果man没有帮助,请尝试man -k和/或info。