software

See also: Software

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Germanic *samþuz / *samftuz

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.

Pronunciation

• (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/
• (Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf(t)ˌweː/
• Rhymes: -ɒftwɛə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: soft‧ware
• Homophone: softwear

Noun

software (usually uncountable, plural software or (nonstandard) softwares)

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

   Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:software

   Some software will only run on a particular platform.

   • 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.

3. (music industry, dated) Recorded music content, as opposed to the hardware necessary for reproducing it.
   • 1979 December 6, Toshi T. Doi, Takashi Itoh, Hiroshi Ogawa, “A Long-Play Digital Audio Disk System”, in Journal of the AES‎^[4], volume 27, number 12, pages 975–981:

     […] an extremely long playing time is achieved, which might be unnecessary from a software point of view

   • 1982 March, Len Feldman, “Digital Audio Disc”, in Radio-Electronics‎^[5], volume 53, number 3, New York: Gernsback Publications, →ISSN, archived from the original on 9 March 2021, page 41:

     There seems to be a growing trend towards endorsement of the C-DAD system by equipment manufacturers and "software" (recorded material) producers around the world.

   • 1982 December, David Ranada, “Digital Debut: First impressions of the Compact Disc System”, in Stereo Review‎^[6], volume 47, number 12, →ISSN, archived from the original on 9 March 2021, page 69:

     Software availability will probably be a significant problem for at least the first few months of the system's commercial life. At present there are only two CD pressing plants in operation, CBS/Sony's in Japan and PolyGram's in Germany.

   • 1984, CD202 Slimline CD Player (Philips advertising brochure)‎^[7], archived from the original on 31 December 2025:

     PLENTIFUL SOFTWARE
     Compact Disc already has support from the recording studios. Many familiar labels appear on these shining silver discs, so that a wide choice of music from the world's leading artistes is available.

   • 1986, Daniel Sweeney, Demystifying Compact Discs: A Guide to Digital Audio‎^[8], 1st edition, Blue Ridge Summit: TAB Books, →ISBN, page 161:

     It should be noted that there are industry observers who feel that the whole concept of individually owned music software could become obsolete, and that in the future no digital consumer medium will exist. Instead, the listener will pay for a cable service whereby he can call up musical selections from a vast central electronic memory—a sort of library of music.

   • 1996, Jürgen K. Lang, Das Compact Disc Digital Audio System‎^[9], →ISBN, page 37:

     Anders als bei Videorecordern […] war mit Blick auf die völlige Abhängigkeit von vorgefertigter Musik-Software die Einführung gleich mehrerer neuer Tonträgersysteme nicht zu erwarten.

     Unlike video recorders […] the introduction of several new recording systems was not to be expected in view of the complete dependence on prefabricated music software.

4. (archaic) Soft goods, such as textiles.
   • 1889, Parliamentary Debates, volume 61, Victoria. Parliament, page 1404:

     In fact, under the heads of hardware, software, and agriculture, the leading interests of the colony might be said to be grouped.

   • 1914, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, volume 3, page 167:

     Drop into the first emporium you pass, whether of hardware or software, of dry goods or wet goods, and note how comparatively few of the articles displayed represent really original ideas

   • 1927, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados Mysteries:

     We have wheat "kings" and cotton "kings" and coal "kings"; railroad "kings", stationary engine "kings", and Mr Ford; "kings" in the realms of hardware, software, sectional bookcases, crime, and canned tomatoes.

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).

Derived terms

• adware
• application software
• applications software
• biosoftware
• bloatware
• collaborative software
• docketing software
• firmware
• free software
• freeware
• hardware
• intersoftware
• kitchen table software
• kitchen-table software
• libre software
• malware
• Microsoft
• microsoftware
• neurosoftware
• non-free software
• nonsoftware
• presentation software
• retroware
• schlockware
• service as a software substitute
• shareware
• softbot
• softlifting
• softmodem
• softography
• softphone
• software archaeology
• software architect
• software architecture
• software configuration management
• software container
• software defined radio
• software deployment
• software developer
• software engine
• software engineer
• software escrow
• software forge
• software framework
• software house
• softwareless
• software lifecycle
• software life cycle
• softwarematically
• software package
• software rot
• softwarey
• softwarily
• softwarization
• softworks
• spyware
• system software
• systems software
• telesoftware
• time-tracking software
• -ware
• wetware
• zombie software

Related terms

• firmware
• hardware
• software assurance
• software crisis
• software engineering
• software state
• vaporware

Descendants

• → Amharic: ሶፍትዌር (softəwer)
• → Iranian Persian: نَرْم‌اَفْزار (narm-afzâr) (calque)
• → Malay: sofwe
• → Vietnamese: phần mềm (calque)

Translations

encoded computer instructions

• Afrikaans: sagteware, programmatuur (af)
• Albanian: softuer m, softver m
• Amharic: ሶፍትዌር (softəwer)
• Arabic: بَرْمَجِيَات pl (barmajiyāt), بَرَامِج حَاسِب m pl (barāmij ḥāsib)
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܲܚܪܸܙܬܵܐ f (tāḳrizta)

• Armenian: ծրագրային ապահովում (cragrayin apahovum), ծրագրակազմ (cragrakazm), ծրագրաշար (hy) (cragrašar)
• Azerbaijani: proqram təminatı pl, PT pl
• Belarusian: прагра́мнае забеспячэ́нне n (prahrámnaje zabjespjačénnje), ПЗ n (PZ)
• Bengali: সফটওয়্যার (bn) (śophoṭōẇyar)
• Bulgarian: со́фтуер (bg) m (sóftuer), програ́мно осигуря́ване n (prográmno osigurjávane)
• Burmese: ဆော့ဖ်ဝဲလ် (hcauhp.wail)
• Catalan: programari (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 軟件 / 软件 (jyun⁵ gin^6-2)

  Hokkien: 軟體 / 软体 (zh-min-nan) (nńg-thé)

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

• Cornish: medhelweyth m
• 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 (fi)
• French: logiciel (fr) m, programmerie f
• 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: תׇּכְנָה f (tokhná)
• Hindi: सॉफ़्टवेयर m (sŏfṭaveyar), क्रमानुदेश m (kramānudeś)
• Hungarian: szoftver (hu)
• Icelandic: hugbúnaður (is) m
• Ido: softwaro (io), programaro
• Indonesian: perangkat lunak (id), peranti lunak (id)
• Interlingua: software, programmatura
• Irish: bogearraí m pl
• Italian: software (it) m, programma (it) m, supporto logico m
• Japanese: ソフトウェア (ja) (sofutowea), ソフト (ja) (sofuto)
• Javanese: ꦥꦶꦫꦤ꧀ꦠꦶ ꦲꦭꦸꦱ꧀ (piranti halus)
• Kazakh: бағдарламалық жасақтама (kk) (bağdarlamalyq jasaqtama), бағдарлама жасақтамасы (bağdarlama jasaqtamasy)
• Khmer: ផ្នែកទន់ (phnaek tŭən), សូហ្វវែរ (soufvae), កម្មវិធី (km) (kamvithii)
• Korean: 소프트웨어 (ko) (sopeuteuweeo), 무른모 (mureunmo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: nermalav (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: программалык жабдык (programmalık jabdık), программалык жабдуу (programmalık jabduu), программалык камсыздоо (programmalık kamsızdoo), программалык жабдылыш (programmalık jabdılış)
• Lao: ໂລຊີຊີແອນ (lō sī sī ʼǣn), ຊອບແວ (sǭp wǣ)
• Latin: programmatura f
• Latvian: programmatūra f
• Lithuanian: programinė įranga (lt) f
• Lombard: prugramadura ?
• Macedonian: софтвер m (softver), програмска опрема f (programska oprema)
• Malay: perisian (ms)
• Maltese: softwer m
• Māori: pūmanawa, pūmanawa rorohiko
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: програм хангамж (program xangamž)

• Northern Sotho: softewere
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: programvare (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: programvare f

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: نَرْم اَفْزار (narm afzâr), نَرْم‌اَفْزار (narm-afzâr)

• Polish: oprogramowanie (pl) n, software (pl) m
• Portuguese: software (pt) m, programa (pt) m
• Romanian: software (ro) n, programe de computer n, soft (ro) n
• Russian: програ́ммное обеспече́ние (ru) n (prográmmnoje obespečénije), софтве́р (ru) m (softvɛ́r), со́фтвер (ru) m (sóftvɛr), ПО (ru) n (PO), софт (ru) m (soft)
• Scottish Gaelic: bathar-bog m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: програмска о̏према f, напудбина f, мекушје n, мековље n, мекотворина f, со̏фтве̄р m, програмска по̏тпора f, програмска по̀дршка f

  Latin: programska ȍprema f, napudbina f, mekušje n, mekovlje n, mekotvorina f, sȍftvēr (sh) m, programska pȍtpora f, programska pòdrška f

• Sicilian: prugramma m, software m
• Sindhi: منطقگري (sd) f (m̃t̤qgre)
• Sinhalese: පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග (parigaṇaka mr̥dukāṁga)
• Slovak: softvér (sk) m
• Slovene: programska oprema f, programje n
• Spanish: software m, programa (es) m, soporte lógico m, sóftwer m
• Swahili: maunzi laini
• Swedish: mjukvara (sv) c, programvara (sv) c
• Tagalog: software
• Tajik: нармафзор (tg) (narmafzor), таъминоти барномавӣ (ta'minot-i barnomavi)
• Thai: ซอฟต์แวร์ (th) (sɔ́ɔp-wɛɛ), ส่วนชุดคำสั่ง (th) (sùuan-chút-kam-sàng)
• Tibetan: མཉེན་ཆས (mnyen chas)
• Turkish: yazılım (tr)
• Turkmen: programma üpjünçiligi
• Ukrainian: програ́мне забезпе́чення n (prohrámne zabezpéčennja), ПЗ n (PZ)
• Urdu: سافْٹ وِئِیر m (sāfṭ viīr), سافْٹ ویئَر m (sāfṭ vear), مُصَنَّعِ لَطِیف ? (musanna'-i latīf)
• Uyghur: يۇمشاق دېتال (yumshaq dëtal)
• Uzbek: dasturiy taʼminot
• Vietnamese: phần mềm (vi), phần ứng dụng, nhu liệu (vi) (dated)
• Welsh: meddalwedd (cy) f
• Yiddish: ווייכוואַרג n (veykhvarg), פּראָגראַמוואַרג n (programvarg)

See also

• application
• assembler
• assembly
• bug
• code
• coding
• compilation
• compiler
• debugging
• interpreter
• linker
• linking
• open source
• patch
• programming
• script
• utilities
• warez

References

• “software”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• forwaste, softwear

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Germanic *samþuz / *samftuz

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 softwarebor.

Czech software

Borrowed from English software.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

software m inan

1. (computing) software

   Synonyms: programové vybavení, (rare) programové prostředky

Declension

Declension of software (hard masculine inanimate foreign)

	singular	plural
nominative	software	softwary
genitive	softwaru	softwarů
dative	softwaru	softwarům
accusative	software	softwary
vocative	software	softwary
locative	softwaru	softwarech
instrumental	softwarem	softwary

Derived terms

• reklamní software
• softwarový
• svobodný software
• škodlivý software
• špehovací software
• špionážní software
• vyděračský software

See also

• hardware

Further reading

• “software”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔft.ʋɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: soft‧ware

Noun

software m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: programmatuur

Derived terms

• gijzelsoftware
• softwareontwikkelaar
• softwareontwikkeling
• vrije software
• zelfrijdsoftware

Related terms

• hardware

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

software m (plural softwares)

1. (archaic) software

   Synonym: logiciel

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

software m (invariable)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

Related terms

• hardware

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Noun

software m (uncountable)

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

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Germanic *samþuz / *samftuz

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 softwareubor.

Polish software

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔft.wɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔftwɛr
• Syllabification: soft‧ware

Noun

software m inan

1. (software) software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: oprogramowanie

   Coordinate term: hardware

2. (technology) technical and organizational ideas

Declension

Declension of software

	singular
nominative	software
genitive	software'u
dative	software'owi
accusative	software
instrumental	software'em
locative	softwarze
vocative	softwarze

Derived terms

adjective

• software'owy

Related terms

adverb

• software'owo

Further reading

• “software”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[10] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Germanic *samþuz / *samftuz

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 softwareubor.

Portuguese software

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛh], /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛh], /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛɾ/, /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛχ], /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛɻ/, /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃi.wɛɻ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛʁ/ [ˈsɔf.t͡ʃwɛh]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɔˈftwɛɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɔˈftwɛɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɔˈftwɛ.ɾi/

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

Noun

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.

Derived terms

• engenharia de software
• engenheiro de software
• (diminutive) softwarezinho

Related terms

• hardware
• middleware

Further reading

• “software”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “software”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Noun

software n (plural (rare) software-uri)

1. (computing) software (encoded computer instructions)

   Synonym: soft

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	software	software-ul	software-uri	software-urile
genitive-dative	software	software-ului	software-uri	software-urilor
vocative	software-ule		software-urilor

Related terms

• hardware

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Germanic *samþuz / *samftuz

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 softwareubor.

Spanish software

Unadapted borrowing from English software.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsofdw̝eɾ/ [ˈsovð̞.w̝eɾ], /ˈsoftweɾ/ [ˈsof.t̪weɾ]
• Rhymes: -ofdw̝eɾ, -oftweɾ
• Syllabification: soft‧ware

Noun

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^[11]:

     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)

Usage notes

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.

Derived terms

Expressions

• software dañino
• software de extorsión
• software espía
• software libre
• software publicitario

See also

• hardware

Further reading

• “software”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• software | Diccionario panhispánico de dudas | RAE - ASALE
• algoritmo, software y hardware, cuatro claves de redacción | Fundéu Guzmán Ariza (fundeu.do)