wetware

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noun wet·ware \ˈwet-ˌwer\

Definition of wetware

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

wetware was our Word of the Day on 06/22/2012. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of wetware from the Web

The 32-year-old Inuk who a few years ago took over local Internet service is reputedly one of the most extensively connected – in both hardware and wetware – of Baffin Island's inhabitants.

— sheldon teitelbaum, WIRED, "The Call of the Wired", 1 Nov. 1997

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wetware'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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."