Word of the Day

: May 31, 2007

wetware

noun WET-wair

What It Means

: the human brain or a human being considered especially with respect to human logical and computational capabilities

wetware in Context

With the right wetware at the helm, the company should be able to turn a sizeable profit.

Did You Know?

When the computer terms "software" and "hardware" sprang to life in the mid-20th century, a surge of visions and inventions using the new technology immediately followed . . . along with a revival of the combining form "ware." An early coinage was "wetware," which began circuiting techie circles in the 1970s as a name for the software installed by Mother Nature (a.k.a. the brain). Other "ware" names for people and their noggins have made a blip in our language -- for example, "meatware" and "liveware" -- but none have become firmly established in the general lexicon like "wetware."