software

See also: Software

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔftˌwɛɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology

From soft +‎ -ware, by contrast with hardware ‎(“the computer itself”). Coined 1953 by Paul Niquette; first used in print by John Tukey 1958.

Noun

Wikipedia

software ‎(uncountable)

1. (computing) Encoded computer instructions, usually modifiable (unless stored in some form of unalterable memory such as ROM). Compare hardware.
   • 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."

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

Hyponyms

• application software

• kitchen table software

• proprietary software

• See also Wikisaurus:software

Derived terms

Derived terms

• adware
• bloatware
• firmware
• freeware

• hardware
• malware
• schlockware
• shareware

• -ware
• spyware
• vaporware
• wetware

Related terms

Related terms

• firmware
• hardware
• software assurance

• software design
• software engineering

• software state
• system software

Translations

encoded computer instructions

• Afrikaans: sagteware, programmatuur
• Albanian: softuer m, softver m
• Arabic: بَرْمَجِيَات pl ‎(barmajiyāt), بَرَامِج اَلْحَاسِب m pl ‎(barāmij al-ḥāsib)
• Armenian: ծրագրային ապահովում ‎(cragrayin apahovum)
• Azeri: proqram təminatı, PT
• Belarusian: прагра́мнае забеспячэ́нне n ‎(prahrámnaje zabjespjačénnje), ПЗ n ‎(PZ)
• Bengali: সফটওয়্যার ‎(sôphţowar)
• Bulgarian: софтуер (bg) m ‎(softuer)
• Burmese: ကွန်ပျူတာ ဆော့ဖ်ဝဲလ် ‎(kwanpyuta hcauhp.wail:)
• Catalan: programari (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 軟件 (zh), 软件 (zh) ‎(ruǎnjiàn), (Taiwan) 軟體 (zh), 软体 (zh) ‎(ruǎntǐ)

• Czech: software (cs) m
• 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
• German: Software (de) f
• Greek: λογισμικό (el) n ‎(logismikó)
• Hebrew: תוכנה \ תׇּכְנָה f ‎(tokhná)
• Hindi: सॉफ़्टवेयर ‎(sŏfṭaveyar), क्रमानुदेश m ‎(kramānudeś)
• Hungarian: szoftver (hu)
• Icelandic: hugbúnaður m
• Ido: softwaro
• Indonesian: piranti lunak
• Interlingua: software
• Irish: bogearraí m pl
• Italian: software (it) m
• Japanese: ソフトウェア (ja) ‎(sofutowea), ソフト ‎(sofuto)
• Kazakh: бағдарламалық жасақтама (kk) ‎(bağdarlamalıq jasaqtama)
• Khmer: ផ្នែក​ទន់ ‎(pnaek tʊən)
• Korean: 소프트웨어 (ko) ‎(sopeuteuweeo), 무른모 ‎(mureunmo)

• Lao: ໂລຊີຊີແອນ ‎(lō sī sī 'ǣn)
• Latvian: programmatūra f
• Lithuanian: programinė įranga (lt) f
• Macedonian: софтвер m ‎(softver), програмска опрема f ‎(programska oprema)
• Malay: perisian (ms)
• Maltese: softwer m
• Maori: pūmanawa, pūmanawa rorohiko
• Mongolian: програм хангамж ‎(program hangamž)
• Norwegian: programvare m, f
• Persian: نرم افزار (fa) ‎(narm afzâr), نرم‌افزار ‎(narm-afzâr)
• Polish: oprogramowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: software (pt) m, programa (pt) m
• Romanian: software (ro) n, programe de computer n
• Russian: програ́ммное обеспече́ние (ru) n ‎(prográmmnoje obespečénije), со́фтве́р m ‎(sóftvɛ́r), ПО n ‎(PO), софт (ru) m ‎(soft)
• Scottish Gaelic: bathar-bog m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: programska oprema, napudbina, mekušje, mekovlje, mekotvorina, softver, programska potpora f, programska podrška f

• Sindhi: منطقگري (sd) f
• Sinhalese: පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග ‎(parigaṇaka mṛdukāṁga)
• Slovak: softvér m
• Slovene: programska oprema f
• Spanish: software (es) m, programa (es) m
• Swedish: mjukvara (sv) c
• Tagalog: software
• Tajik: нармафзор ‎(narmafzor)
• Thai: ซอฟต์แวร์ (th) ‎(sɔ̂ɔp-wɛɛ)
• Turkish: yazılım (tr)
• Ukrainian: програ́мне забезпе́чення n ‎(prohrámne zabezpéčennja), ПЗ n ‎(PZ)
• Urdu: سافٹویئر ‎(sāfṭaveyar), سوفٹویئر ‎(sofṭaveyar)
• Uzbek: dasturiy taʼminot
• Vietnamese: phần mềm (vi)
• Welsh: meddalwedd (cy) f
• Yiddish: ווייכוואַרג n ‎(veykhvarg), פּראָגראַמוואַרג ‎(programvarg)

See also

application assembly assembler bug code coding

compilation compiler debugging interpreter linking linker

open source patch programming script utilities warez

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from English.

Noun

software m ‎(invariable)

1. (computing) software

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Norman

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software m ‎(uncountable)

1. (Jersey, computing) software

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English.

Noun

software m (plural softwares)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from English.

Noun

software m ‎(plural softwares)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Synonyms

• programa