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software

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Software

English

Etymology

From soft +‎ -ware, by contrast with hardware (“the computer itself”). Coined by John Tukey in 1958.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

software (usually uncountable, plural (nonstandard) softwares)

  1. (computing) Encoded computer instructions, usually modifiable (unless stored in some form of unalterable memory such as ROM).
    Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:software
    • 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."
    • 2022 October 17, Sean Lyngaas and Clare Duffy, “How a 51-year-old celebrity hacker upended one of the world’s most influential social networks”, in CNN Business‎[3]:
      Cris “Space Rogue” Thomas, another ex-L0pht member who testified alongside Zatko that day, said that L0pht would do everything it could to get companies to collaboratively fix software issues the hacker group found.
  2. (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.
  3. (music industry, dated) Recorded music content, as opposed to the hardware necessary for reproducing it.
    • 1979 December 6, Toshi T. Doi, Takashi Itoh, Hiroshi Ogawa, “A Long-Play Digital Audio Disk System”, in Journal of the AES‎[4], volume 27, number 12, pages 975–981:
      […] an extremely long playing time is achieved, which might be unnecessary from a software point of view
    • 1982 March, Len Feldman, “Digital Audio Disc”, in Radio-Electronics‎[5], volume 53, number 3, New York: Gernsback Publications, →ISSN, archived from the original on 9 March 2021, page 41:
      There seems to be a growing trend towards endorsement of the C-DAD system by equipment manufacturers and "software" (recorded material) producers around the world.
    • 1982 December, David Ranada, “Digital Debut: First impressions of the Compact Disc System”, in Stereo Review‎[6], volume 47, number 12, →ISSN, archived from the original on 9 March 2021, page 69:
      Software availability will probably be a significant problem for at least the first few months of the system's commercial life. At present there are only two CD pressing plants in operation, CBS/Sony's in Japan and PolyGram's in Germany.
    • 1984, CD202 Slimline CD Player (Philips advertising brochure)‎[7], archived from the original on 31 December 2025:
      PLENTIFUL SOFTWARE
      Compact Disc already has support from the recording studios. Many familiar labels appear on these shining silver discs, so that a wide choice of music from the world's leading artistes is available.
    • 1986, Daniel Sweeney, Demystifying Compact Discs: A Guide to Digital Audio‎[8], 1st edition, Blue Ridge Summit: TAB Books, →ISBN, page 161:
      It should be noted that there are industry observers who feel that the whole concept of individually owned music software could become obsolete, and that in the future no digital consumer medium will exist. Instead, the listener will pay for a cable service whereby he can call up musical selections from a vast central electronic memory—a sort of library of music.
    • 1996, Jürgen K. Lang, Das Compact Disc Digital Audio System‎[9], →ISBN, page 37:
      Anders als bei Videorecordern […] war mit Blick auf die völlige Abhängigkeit von vorgefertigter Musik-Software die Einführung gleich mehrerer neuer Tonträgersysteme nicht zu erwarten.
      Unlike video recorders […] the introduction of several new recording systems was not to be expected in view of the complete dependence on prefabricated music software.

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).

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Amharic: ሶፍትዌር (softəwer)
  • → Iranian Persian: نَرْم‌اَفْزار (narm-afzâr) (calque)
  • → Malay: sofwe

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ "[1]", How software got its name, 2000, the Economist
  2. ^ "[2]",John Tukey, 85, Statistician; Coined the Word 'Software', 2000, The New York Times

Anagrams

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Pronunciation

Noun

software m inan

  1. (computing) software
    Synonyms: programové vybavení, (rare) programové prostředky

Declension

Declension of software (hard masculine inanimate foreign)
singular plural
nominative software softwary
genitive softwaru softwarů
dative softwaru softwarům
accusative software softwary
vocative software softwary
locative softwaru softwarech
instrumental softwarem softwary

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsɔft.ʋɛr/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: soft‧ware

Noun

software m (uncountable, no diminutive)

  1. software (encoded computer instructions)
    Synonym: programmatuur

Derived terms

French

Pronunciation

Noun

software m (plural softwares)

  1. (archaic) software
    Synonym: logiciel

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Pronunciation

Noun

software m (invariable)

  1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

References

  1. ^ software in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Noun

software m (uncountable)

  1. (Jersey, computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Pronunciation

Noun

software m inan

  1. (software) software (encoded computer instructions)
    Synonym: oprogramowanie
    Coordinate term: hardware
  2. (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
adverb

Further reading

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Pronunciation

 
 

Noun

software m (countable and uncountable, plural softwares)

  1. (uncountable, computing) software (encoded computer instructions)
  2. (countable, computing) a piece of software; program
    Vou instalar um novo software de anti-vírus. ― I'll install a new anti-virus program.

Derived terms

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Noun

software n (plural (rare) software-uri)

  1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)
    Synonym: soft

Declension

singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative software software-ul software-uri software-urile
genitive-dative software software-ului software-uri software-urilor
vocative software-ule software-urilor

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsofdw̝eɾ/ [ˈsovð̞.w̝eɾ], /ˈsoftweɾ/ [ˈsof.t̪weɾ]
  • Rhymes: -ofdw̝eɾ, -oftweɾ
  • Syllabification: soft‧ware

Noun

software m (plural softwares)

  1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)
    Synonym: programa
    • 2024 July 22, Zoe Sottile, “Lo que sabemos cuatro días después de que una actualización de software dejara fuera de servicio los sistemas informáticos de todo el mundo”, in CNN en Español‎[10]:
      Cuatro días después de que una actualización de software defectuosa de una empresa de ciberseguridad dejara inesperadamente fuera de servicio ordenadores y sistemas técnicos en todo el mundo, las aerolíneas y algunas otras empresas siguen experimentando retrasos y otros problemas técnicos.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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

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