What does computer mean?
A computer is a programmable electronic device designed to store, retrieve, and process data, carrying out sequences of instructions known as programs at extraordinary speed. In everyday speech it most often means a desktop or laptop machine used for work, communication, study, and entertainment, though the term also embraces servers, smartphones' underlying hardware, and embedded systems in cars and appliances. The word carries no strong connotation — it is neutral and technical — but it sits at the centre of modern vocabulary: phrases such as 'personal computer', 'computer science', and 'computer virus' are firmly established. Historically, 'computer' first denoted a human being who performed calculations, a sense that persisted into the mid-twentieth century before electronic machines took over both the job and the name. Today the word is indispensable to discussions of technology, education, industry, and daily life, making it one of the defining nouns of the modern era.
nounAn electronic device that stores and processes data, performing calculations and executing programmed instructions at high speed. It typically consists of a central processing unit, memory, and input/output devices, and is capable of running a wide range of programs.
- A programmable electronic device for storing and processing data.
- (Historical) A person employed to carry out calculations.
"She wrote her entire thesis on a laptop computer she bought second-hand."
"The office replaced its ageing computers with faster machines last spring."
"Before electronic calculators existed, human computers worked in teams computing artillery tables by hand."
Regular plural; count noun.
"The school installed two hundred new computers over the summer."
The word 'computer' originally referred to a person — often a woman with pencil and paper — hired to do calculations by hand.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of computer
Computer derives from the Latin verb computare, meaning 'to calculate' or 'to reckon together', formed from com- ('together') and putare ('to reckon'). The word entered English via the agent noun 'computer', meaning one who computes, and was applied to people who carried out mathematical calculations — a profession employing many women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. When calculating machines were developed, the term transferred to them, becoming attached specifically to electronic digital devices from the mid-twentieth century onward. Cognates sharing the same Latin root include compute, computation, and computable.
How computer is actually used
In modern usage the noun almost always refers to an electronic device; the older sense of 'a person who computes' survives mainly in historical writing about early-20th-century scientific work. The word is neutral in register and appears freely in both formal and informal contexts.
Easily confused with computer
A calculator performs arithmetic only, whereas a computer is a general-purpose programmable machine capable of far broader tasks.