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software . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
software , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
software in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
software you have here. The definition of the word
software will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
software , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From soft + -ware , by contrast with hardware ( “ the computer itself ” ) . Coined by Paul Niquette in 1953; first used in print by Richard Carhart in 1953.
Pronunciation
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."
Hyponyms: application software , data-oriented software , kitchen table software , on-premises software , malware , schlockware , shareware , shovelware , spyware , system software
( 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
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
→ Amharic: ሶፍትዌር ( softəwer )
Translations
encoded computer instructions
Afrikaans: sagteware , programmatuur (af)
Albanian: softuer m , softver m
Amharic: ሶፍትዌር ( softəwer )
Arabic: بَرْمَجِيَات pl ( barmajiyāt ) , بَرَامِج حَاسِب m pl ( barāmij ḥāsib )
Armenian: ծրագրային ապահովում ( cragrayin apahovum ) , ծրագրակազմ ( cragrakazm ) , ծրագրաշար (hy) ( cragrašar )
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܲܚܪܸܙܬܵܐ f ( tāḳrizta )
Azerbaijani: proqram təminatı pl , PT pl
Belarusian: прагра́мнае забеспячэ́нне n ( prahrámnaje zabjespjačénnje ) , ПЗ n ( PZ )
Bengali: সফটওয়্যার (bn) ( śophoṭōẇyar )
Bulgarian: со́фтуер (bg) m ( sóftuer ) , програ́мно осигуря́ване n ( prográmno osigurjávane )
Burmese: ဆော့ဖ်ဝဲလ် ( hcauhp.wail )
Catalan: programari (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 軟件 / 软件 ( jyun5 gin6-2 )
Hokkien: 軟體 / 软体 (zh-min-nan) ( nńg-thé )
Mandarin: 軟件 / 软件 (zh) ( ruǎnjiàn ) , 軟體 / 软体 (zh) ( ruǎntǐ ) ( Taiwan )
Czech: software (cs) m , programové vybavení
Danish: software (da) , programmel
Dutch: software (nl) m , programmatuur (nl) m
Esperanto: programaro
Estonian: tarkvara
Finnish: ohjelmisto (fi) , tietokoneohjelma (fi) , softa
French: logiciel (fr) m
Galician: soporte lóxico (gl) m
Georgian: პროგრამული უზრუნველყოფა ( ṗrogramuli uzrunvelq̇opa ) , კომპიუტერული პროგრამა ( ḳomṗiuṭeruli ṗrograma ) , პროგრამა ( ṗrograma )
German: Software (de) f
Greek: λογισμικό (el) n ( logismikó )
Hebrew: תוכנה \ תׇּכְנָה f ( tokhná )
Hindi: सॉफ़्टवेयर m ( sŏfṭaveyar ) , क्रमानुदेश m ( kramānudeś )
Hungarian: szoftver (hu)
Icelandic: hugbúnaður m
Ido: softwaro (io) , programaro
Indonesian: perangkat lunak (id) , peranti lunak (id)
Interlingua: software , programmatura
Irish: bogearraí m pl
Italian: software (it) m , programma (it) m , supporto logico m
Japanese: ソフトウェア (ja) ( sofutowea ) , ソフト (ja) ( sofuto )
Javanese: ꦥꦶꦫꦤ꧀ꦠꦶ ꦲꦭꦸꦱ꧀ ( piranti halus )
Kazakh: бағдарламалық жасақтама (kk) ( bağdarlamalyq jasaqtama ) , бағдарлама жасақтамасы ( bağdarlama jasaqtamasy )
Khmer: ផ្នែកទន់ ( phnaek tŭən ) , សូហ្វវែរ ( soufvae )
Korean: 소프트웨어 (ko) ( sopeuteuweeo ) , 무른모 ( mureunmo )
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: nermalav (ku) f
Kyrgyz: программалык жабдык ( programmalık jabdık ) , программалык жабдуу ( programmalık jabduu ) , программалык камсыздоо ( programmalık kamsızdoo ) , программалык жабдылыш ( programmalık jabdılış )
Lao: ໂລຊີຊີແອນ ( lō sī sī ʼǣn ) , ຊອບແວ ( sǭp wǣ )
Latin: programmatura f
Latvian: programmatūra f
Lithuanian: programinė įranga (lt) f
Lombard: prugramadura ?
Macedonian: софтвер m ( softver ) , програмска опрема f ( programska oprema )
Malay: perisian (ms)
Maltese: softwer m
Maori: pūmanawa , pūmanawa rorohiko
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: програм хангамж ( program xangamž )
Northern Sotho: softewere
Norwegian:
Bokmål: programvare (no) m or f
Nynorsk: programvare f
Persian:
Iranian Persian: نَرْم اَفْزار (fa) ( narm afzâr ) , نَرْماَفْزار (fa) ( narm-afzâr )
Polish: oprogramowanie (pl) n , software (pl) m
Portuguese: software (pt) m , programa (pt) m
Romanian: software (ro) n , programe de computer n , soft (ro) n
Russian: програ́ммное обеспече́ние (ru) n ( prográmmnoje obespečénije ) , софтве́р (ru) m ( softvɛ́r ) , со́фтвер (ru) m ( sóftvɛr ) , ПО (ru) n ( PO ) , софт (ru) m ( soft )
Scottish Gaelic: bathar-bog m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: програмска о̏према f , напудбина f , мекушје n , мековље n , мекотворина f , со̏фтве̄р m , програмска по̏тпора f , програмска по̀дршка f
Roman: programska ȍprema f , napudbina f , mekušje n , mekovlje n , mekotvorina f , sȍftvēr (sh) m , programska pȍtpora f , programska pòdrška f
Sicilian: prugramma m , software m
Sindhi: منطقگري (sd) f
Sinhalese: පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග ( parigaṇaka mr̥dukāṁga )
Slovak: softvér (sk) m
Slovene: programska oprema f , programje n
Spanish: software (es) m , programa (es) m , soporte lógico m
Swahili: maunzi laini
Swedish: mjukvara (sv) c , programvara (sv) c
Tagalog: software
Tajik: нармафзор (tg) ( narmafzor ) , таъминоти барномавӣ ( taʾminoti barnomavī )
Thai: ซอฟต์แวร์ (th) ( sɔ́ɔp-wɛɛ ) , ส่วนชุดคำสั่ง (th) ( sùuan-chút-kam-sàng )
Turkish: yazılım (tr)
Turkmen: programma üpjünçiligi
Ukrainian: програ́мне забезпе́чення n ( prohrámne zabezpéčennja ) , ПЗ n ( PZ )
Urdu: سافْٹ وِئِیر ( sāfṭ viīr ) , سافْٹ ویئَر m ( sāfṭ vear )
Uyghur: يۇمشاق دېتال ( yumshaq dëtal )
Uzbek: dasturiy ta'minot
Vietnamese: phần mềm (vi) , phần ứng dụng , nhu liệu (vi) ( dated )
Welsh: meddalwedd (cy) f
Yiddish: ווייכוואַרג n ( veykhvarg ) , פּראָגראַמוואַרג n ( programvarg )
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. (1953 August 14) A survey of the current status of the electronic reliability problem , Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, page 65
Further reading
Anagrams
Czech
Etymology
Borrowed from English software .
Pronunciation
Noun
software m inan
( computing ) software
Synonyms: programové vybavení , ( rare ) programové prostředky
Declension
Declension of software (hard masculine inanimate foreign )
Derived terms
See also
Further reading
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English software .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈsɔft.ʋɛr/
Hyphenation: soft‧ware
Noun
software m (uncountable )
software ( encoded computer instructions )
Synonym: programmatuur
Derived terms
Related terms
French
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (plural softwares )
( archaic ) software
Synonym: logiciel
Further reading
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English software .
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (invariable )
( computing ) software ( encoded computer instructions )
Related terms
References
Norman
Etymology
Borrowed from English software .
Noun
software m (uncountable )
( Jersey , computing ) software ( encoded computer instructions )
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
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software .
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (plural softwares )
( computing ) software ( encoded computer instructions )
( computing ) a piece of software ; program
Derived terms
Related terms
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software .
Noun
software n (plural ( rare ) software-uri )
( computing ) software ( encoded computer instructions )
Synonym: soft
Declension
Related terms
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English software .
Pronunciation
Noun
software m (plural softwares )
( computing ) software ( encoded computer instructions )
Synonym: programa
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
See also
Further reading