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

software (uncountable)

1. (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."

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 of software

• application software
• data-oriented software
• kitchen table software

• malware
• object-based software
• object-oriented software

• on-premises software
• proprietary software
• schlockware

• shareware
• spyware
• system software

• See also Wikisaurus:software

Derived terms

Terms derived from software

• adware
• bloatware
• firmware

• freeware
• hardware
• malware

• schlockware
• shareware
• software-intensive

• spyware
• -ware
• wetware

Related terms

Related terms

• firmware
• hardware

• software assurance
• software crisis

• software design
• software engineering

• software state
• vaporware

Translations

encoded computer instructions

• Afrikaans: sagteware, programmatuur
• Albanian: softuer m, softver m
• Amharic: ሶፍትዌር (softwer)
• Arabic: بَرْمَجِيَات‏‎ pl (barmajiyāt), بَرَامِج اَلْحَاسِب‏‎ m pl (barāmij al-ḥāsib)
• Armenian: ծրագրային ապահովում (cragrayin apahovum), ծրագրակազմ (cragrakazm), ծրագրաշար (cragrašar)
• Azeri: proqram təminatı pl, PT pl
• Belarusian: прагра́мнае забеспячэ́нне n (prahrámnaje zabjespjačénnje), ПЗ n (PZ)
• Bengali: সফটওয়্যার (sôphṭoyyar)
• Bulgarian: софтуер (bg) m (softuer), програмно осигуряване n (programno osigurjavane)
• Burmese: ဆော့ဖ်ဝဲလ် (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, 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 (sŏfṭaveyar), क्रमानुदेश m (kramānudeś)
• Hungarian: szoftver (hu)
• Icelandic: hugbúnaður m
• Ido: softwaro, programaro
• Indonesian: perangkat lunak (id), peranti lunak (id)
• Interlingua: software
• Irish: bogearraí m pl
• Italian: software (it) m
• Japanese: ソフトウェア (ja) (sofutowea), ソフト (ja) (sofuto)
• Javanese: ꦥꦶꦫꦤ꧀ꦠꦶ ꦲꦭꦸꦱ꧀ (piranti halus)
• Kazakh: бағдарламалық жасақтама (kk) (bağdarlamalıq jasaqtama)
• Khmer: ផ្នែកទន់ (pnaek tʊən)
• Korean: 소프트웨어 (ko) (sopeuteuweeo), 무른모 (mureunmo)

• Lao: ໂລຊີຊີແອນ (lō sī sī 'ǣn), ຊອບແວ (sǭp wǣ)
• 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)
• Northern Sotho: softewere
• 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 (ru) m (sóftvɛ́r), ПО (ru) n (PO), софт (ru) m (soft)
• Scottish Gaelic: bathar-bog m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: програмска опрема f, напудбина f, мекушје n, мековље n, мекотворина f, софтвер m, програмска потпора f, програмска подршка f

  Roman: programska oprema f, napudbina f, mekušje n, mekovlje n, mekotvorina f, softver (sh) m, programska potpora f, programska podrška f

• Sindhi: منطقگري‏‎ (sd) f
• Sinhalese: පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග (parigaṇaka mṛdukāṁga)
• Slovak: softvér m
• Slovene: programska oprema f, programje n
• Spanish: software (es) m, programa (es) m, soporte lógico m
• Swedish: mjukvara (sv) c, programvara (sv) c
• Tagalog: software
• Tajik: нармафзор (narmafzor)
• Thai: ซอฟต์แวร์ (th) (sɔ́ɔp-wɛɛ)
• Turkish: yazılım (tr)
• Turkmen: programma üpjünçiligi
• Ukrainian: програ́мне забезпе́чення n (prohrámne zabezpéčennja), ПЗ n (PZ)
• Urdu: سافٹویئر‏‎ (sāfṭaveyar), سوفٹویئر‏‎ (sofṭaveyar)
• Uyghur: يۇمشاق دېتال‏‎ (yumshaq dëtal)
• Uzbek: dasturiy ta'minot
• Vietnamese: phần mềm (vi), phần ứng dụng, nhu liệu (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

Anagrams

• forwaste

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Czech

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software m

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Synonyms

• programové vybavení

Related terms

• hardware

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Dutch

Etymology

From English software.

Noun

software m (uncountable)

1. software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonyms: programmatuur

Derived terms

• gijzelsoftware

Related terms

• hardware

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software m (invariable)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Related terms

• hardware

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Norman

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software m (uncountable)

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

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software m (plural softwares)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Related terms

• hardware

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software ? (plural [please provide])

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Related terms

• hardware

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software m (plural softwares)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Synonyms

• programa

Related terms

• hardware

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Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowing from English software.

Noun

software

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Related terms

• hardware