software
See also: Software
English
Etymology
From soft + -ware, by contrast with hardware (“the computer itself”). Coined by Paul Niquette in 1953;[1] first used in print by Richard Carhart in 1953[2].
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɒf(t)ˌwɛə/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈsɔf(t)ˌweː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɔftˌwɛɹ/
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈsɑftˌwɛɹ/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: softwear
- Hyphenation: soft‧ware
Noun
software (uncountable)
- (computing) Encoded computer instructions, usually modifiable (unless stored in some form of unalterable memory such as ROM).
- 1958, John W. Tukey, "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics" in The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 65, no. 1 (Jan. 1958), pp 1-9:
- The "software" comprising the carefully planned interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automative programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its "hardware" of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like.
- 1995, Paul Niquette, Softword: Provenance for the Word ‘Software’:
- As originally conceived, the word "software" was merely an obvious way to distinguish a program from the computer itself. A program comprised sequences of changeable instructions each having the power to command the behavior of the permanently crafted machinery, the "hardware."
- 1958, John W. Tukey, "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics" in The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 65, no. 1 (Jan. 1958), pp 1-9:
- (military) The human beings involved in warfare, as opposed to hardware such as weapons and vehicles.
- 1989, Christopher Layton, A Step Beyond Fear: Building a European Security Community:
- The Americans have devoted their attention to the hardware of disarmament: Europeans can make a special contribution to the 'software' or human content of detente.
- 1991, New York Magazine (volume 24, number 5, page 33)
- […] preview of horrific images to come, as the hardware stage of the war yields to the software — or human — stage.
Usage notes
Software is a mass noun (some software, a piece of software). By non-native speakers it is sometimes erroneously treated as a countable noun (a software, some softwares).
Hyponyms
- See also Thesaurus:software
- embedded software
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → Amharic: ሶፍትዌር (softəwer)
Translations
encoded computer instructions
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See also
References
- ^ "Part 0. Introduction: The Software Age", Softword: Provenance for the Word 'Software', 2006 by Paul Niquette, →ISBN, adapted from article first published in 1995 in author’s magazine, Sophisticated: The Magazine, →ISBN (archival links)
- ^ Carhart, R.R. (14 August 1953) A survey of the current status of the electronic reliability problem[1], Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, page 65
Further reading
Anagrams
Czech
Etymology
Borrowed from English software.
Noun
software m
- (computing) software
- Synonyms: programové vybavení, (rare) programové prostředky
Declension
Declension of software
Derived terms
See also
Further reading
software on the Czech Wikipedia.Wikipedia cs
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English software.
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (uncountable)
- software (encoded computer instructions)
- Synonym: programmatuur
Derived terms
Related terms
French
Noun
software m (plural softwares)
Further reading
- “software”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English software.
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (invariable)
Related terms
References
- ^ software in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Norman
Etymology
Borrowed from English software.
Noun
software m (uncountable)
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software.
Pronunciation
Noun
software m inan
- (software) software (encoded computer instructions)
- Synonym: oprogramowanie
- Coordinate term: hardware
- (technology) technical and organizational ideas
Declension
Declension of software
| singular | |
|---|---|
| nominative | software |
| genitive | software'u |
| dative | software'owi |
| accusative | software |
| instrumental | software'em |
| locative | softwarze |
| vocative | softwarze |
Derived terms
adjective
Related terms
adverb
Further reading
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software.
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (plural softwares)
Derived terms
- engenharia de software
- engenheiro de software
- (diminutive) softwarezinho
Related terms
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software.
Noun
software n (plural (rare) software-uri)
Declension
Declension of software
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) software | software-ul | (niște) software-uri | software-urile |
| genitive/dative | (unui) software | software-ului | (unor) software-uri | software-urilor |
| vocative | software-ule | software-urilor | ||
Synonyms
Related terms
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsoftweɾ/ [ˈsoft̪.weɾ], /ˈsofweɾ/ [ˈsof.weɾ]
- Rhymes: -oftweɾ, -ofweɾ
- Syllabification: soft‧ware
Noun
software m (plural softwares)
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Derived terms
Expressions
See also
Further reading
- “software”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014