software

From soft +‎ -ware, by contrast with hardware (“the computer itself”). Coined by John Tukey in 1958.^[1][2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒf(t)ˌwɛə/
• (General American, without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf(t)ˌwɛɹ/
• (General American, cot–caught merger, dialects of Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑf(t)ˌwɛɹ/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒf(t)ˌwɛɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf(t)ˌweː/
• Rhymes: -ɒftwɛə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: soft‧ware
• Homophone: softwear

software (usually uncountable, plural (nonstandard) softwares)

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

   Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:software

   • 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."

   • 2022 October 17, Sean Lyngaas and Clare Duffy, “How a 51-year-old celebrity hacker upended one of the world’s most influential social networks”, in CNN Business‎^[3]:

     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.

2. (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.

• 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).

• → Amharic: ሶፍትዌር (softəwer)
• → Iranian Persian: نَرْم‌اَفْزار (narm-afzâr) (calque)

• forwaste, softwear

Borrowed from English software.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsoftvɛr]
• IPA^(key): [ˈsoftvɛːr]

• Audio:

  (file)

software m inan

1. (computing) software

   Synonyms: programové vybavení, (rare) programové prostředky

• hardware

• software on the Czech Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^cs

Borrowed from English software.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔft.ʋɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: soft‧ware

software m (uncountable)

1. software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: programmatuur

• hardware

• Audio:

  (file)

software m (plural softwares)

1. (archaic) software

   Synonym: logiciel

• “software”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from English software.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.twɛr/, /ˈsɔf.twer/, /ˈsɔf.twɛ.ar/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔftwɛr, -ɔftwer, -ɔftwɛar

software m (invariable)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

• hardware

Borrowed from English software.

software m (uncountable)

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

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔft.wɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔftwɛr
• Syllabification: soft‧ware

software m inan

1. () software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: oprogramowanie

   Coordinate term: hardware

2. (technology) technical and organizational ideas

• software in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

• Rhymes: -ɔftʃiwɛʁ, -ɛɾ
• Hyphenation: soft‧ware

software m (countable and uncountable, plural softwares)

1. (uncountable, computing) software (encoded computer instructions)
2. (countable, computing) a piece of software; program

   Vou instalar um novo software de anti-vírus. ― I'll install a new anti-virus program.

• hardware
• middleware

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

software n (plural (rare) software-uri)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: soft

• hardware

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsoftweɾ/ [ˈsoft̪.weɾ], /ˈsofweɾ/ [ˈsof.weɾ]
• Rhymes: -oftweɾ, -ofweɾ
• Syllabification: soft‧ware

software m (plural softwares)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: programa

   • 2024 July 22, Zoe Sottile, “Lo que sabemos cuatro días después de que una actualización de software dejara fuera de servicio los sistemas informáticos de todo el mundo”, in CNN en Español‎^[4]:

     Cuatro días después de que una actualización de software defectuosa de una empresa de ciberseguridad dejara inesperadamente fuera de servicio ordenadores y sistemas técnicos en todo el mundo, las aerolíneas y algunas otras empresas siguen experimentando retrasos y otros problemas técnicos.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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.

• hardware

• “software”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• software | Diccionario panhispánico de dudas | RAE - ASALE
• algoritmo, software y hardware, cuatro claves de redacción | Fundéu Guzmán Ariza (fundeu.do)