firmware

Etymology

It is formed from English firm + ware, on the model of software.^[2][3][4][5] The OED explains it as the adjective firm with the noun ware, and Webster's Third as firm with the ending of software.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Permanent software built into a computer's hardware: Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1967,^[3] and the OED's first record is from the World Book Year Book of 1968.^[2][4] Dictionary.com places it between 1965 and 1970.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word was coined for programs held in read-only memory, which give the low-level control of a device's hardware.^[4][3] Wiktionary also uses it for software written for such embedded uses.^[1]

Timeline

• 1967 – programs stored permanently in a hardware device.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1968.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Software stored permanently in a hardware device, such as a read-only memory, that controls how the device works.^[3][2][7]
2. Programs of this kind as a class, especially those written for embedded systems: The router needed a firmware update before it would connect.^[1][3]

Related words

• software
• hardware
• firm
• ware

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin