hardware

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them! Particularly: “first sense (Fixtures, equipment, tools and devices...)”

From Middle English hardware; equivalent to hard +‎ -ware; attested since the mid-15th century.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːdˌwɛə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹdˌwɛɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

hardware (uncountable)

2. Fixtures, equipment, fasteners, tools, and devices used for general-purpose construction and repair of a structure or object. Also such equipment as sold as stock by a store of the same name, e.g. hardware store.

   He needed a hammer, nails, screws, nuts, bolts and other assorted hardware, so he went to the hardware store.

3. (informal) Equipment.

   military hardware

   • 2003 June 6, “Mission to Mars”, in CBS_Rather:

     BOWEN: The monster trucks of Mars rovers, joke scientists, equipped with an array of sophisticated hardware to look for signs of water and answer scientists questions.

   • 2009 May, Lee S. Langston, “plowing new ground.”, in Mechanical Engineering, volume 131, number 5, page 40:

     It is one thing to see an intercooler as a simple entry in a textbook, but to witness the actual hardware as it crawled down the road was awe-inspiring.

   • 2011 January, “Swedish Sportster”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 188, number 1, page 27:

     Smaller, turbocharged engines are one way to increase engine efficiency by 8 to 10 percent, but the extra hardware is expensive.

5. (computing) The part of a computer that is fixed and cannot be altered without replacement or physical modification; motherboard, expansion cards, etc. Compare software.
   • 1952, R.L. Michaelson, “Binary Arithmetic”, in The Incorporated Statistician, volume 3, number 1 (Feb. 1952), pages 35–40:

     Hardware is the generally accepted colloquism for anything inside a computer other than an engineer.

6. (technology) Electronic equipment.
7. Metal implements.

   The designers have put their logo on the hardware of this bag here.

8. (slang) A firearm.
9. (slang) Medals or trophies.
10. (Philippines) Ellipsis of hardware store.

• → Amharic: ሃርድዌር (hardəwer)

• hardware on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English hardware

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːdweø/,
• Rhymes: -ɑːdweø

hardware

1. (anglicism, computing, electronics) synonym of laitteisto (“hardware”) (physical equipment, as opposed to software)

• “hardware”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja ‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Borrowed from English.

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /aʁ.dwɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

hardware m (uncountable)

1. (computing) hardware

   Synonym: matériel

• “hardware”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Borrowed from English hardware.

hardware m (uncountable)

1. (Jersey, computing) hardware

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

hardware

Wikipedia ^pl

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxard.wɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ardwɛr
• Syllabification: hard‧ware

hardware m inan

1. (computer hardware) hardware (material part of a computer)

   Synonym: sprzęt komputerowy

   Coordinate term: software

• hardware in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• hardware in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

• Hyphenation: hard‧wa‧re

hardware m (plural hardwares)

1. (computing) hardware (parts of a computer that is fixed and cannot be altered without replacement or physical modification)

   Coordinate term: software

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

hardware n (uncountable)

1. (computing) hardware

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxaɾdweɾ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈxarweɾ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈxaɾɡweɾ/

hardware m (plural hardwares)

1. (computing) hardware

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.

• “hardware”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy , 10 December 2024
• hardware | Diccionario panhispánico de dudas | RAE - ASALE
• algoritmo, software y hardware, cuatro claves de redacción | Fundéu Guzmán Ariza (fundeu.do)