hardware

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See also: Hardware

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From hard +‎ -ware; attested since the mid-15th century.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

hardware (uncountable)

  1. Fixtures, equipment, 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.
  2. (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.
  3. (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, "Binary Arithmetic", R.L. Michaelson, in The Incorporated Statistician, vol. 3, no. 1 (Feb. 1952), pp 35-40.
      Hardware is the generally accepted colloquism for anything inside a computer other than an engineer.
  4. (technology) Electronic equipment.
  5. Metal implements.
  6. (slang) A firearm.
  7. (slang) Medals or trophies.
  8. (Philippines) Short for hardware store.

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • → Amharic: ሃርድዌር (hardəwer)

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

hardware m (uncountable)

  1. (computing) hardware
    Synonym: matériel

Further reading[edit]

Norman[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English hardware.

Noun[edit]

hardware m (uncountable)

  1. (Jersey, computing) hardware

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

Noun[edit]

hardware m (plural hardwares)

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

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

Noun[edit]

hardware n (uncountable)

  1. (computing) hardware

Declension[edit]

declension of hardware (singular only)
singular
n gender indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) hardware hardwareul
genitive/dative (unui) hardware hardwareului
vocative hardwareule

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English hardware.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈxaɾdweɾ/, [ˈxaɾ.ð̞weɾ]
  • IPA(key): /ˈxarweɾ/, [ˈxa.rweɾ]
  • IPA(key): /ˈxaɾɡweɾ/, [ˈxaɾ.ɣ̞weɾ]

Noun[edit]

hardware m (plural hardwares)

  1. (computing) hardware

Usage notes[edit]

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.

Further reading[edit]

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