software
/ˈsɔf(t)ˌwɛɹ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.77 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Encoded computer instructions, usually modifiable (unless stored in some form of unalterable memory such as ROM).
Uncountable
noun
The human beings involved in warfare, as opposed to hardware such as weapons and vehicles.
Uncountable
noun
Recorded music content, as opposed to the hardware necessary for reproducing it.
Dated; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Some software will only run on a particular platform."
- "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."
- "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.""
- "Cris “Space Rogue” Thomas, another ex-L0pht member who testified alongside Zatko that day, said that L0pht would do everything it could to get companies to collaboratively fix software issues the hacker group found."
- "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."
- "[…] preview of horrific images to come, as the hardware stage of the war yields to the software — or human — stage."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Germanic *samþuz /*samftuz Proto-Indo-European *-yos Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Germanic *-jaz Proto-West Germanic *-ī Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) Old English sōfte Middle English softe English soft Proto-Germanic *warō Proto-West Germanic *waru Old English waru Middle English ware English -ware English software Computing sense from soft + -ware, by contrast with hardware (“the computer itself”). Coined by John Tukey in 1958. The earlier sense of software to mean tangible products with a soft texture may have fallen out of common usage before the computing sense was created.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɔf(t)ˌwɛɹ/
- British English: /ˈsɒf(t)ˌwɛə/