German

Noun

Hardware f ‎(genitive Hardware, no plural)

1. (computing) hardware

English

Noun

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.

Related terms

• software
• hardware store

Translations

French

Etymology

From English

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /aʁdwɛʁ/

Noun

hardware m ‎(uncountable)

1. (computing) hardware

Synonyms

• matériel

Norman

Etymology

Borrowing from English hardware.

Noun

hardware m ‎(uncountable)

1. (Jersey, computing) hardware

Portuguese

Noun

hardware m (plural hardwares)

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

Spanish

Noun

hardware m ‎(plural hardwares)

1. (computing) hardware