wetware

noun

wet·​ware ˈwet-ˌwer 

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

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."

Examples of wetware in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Biological computing, in contrast, uses wetware to process data. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 21 Aug. 2026

The patterning is stored in a large-scale data structure loosely based on aspects of human wetware (vaguely like our brains), implemented as an artificial neural network (ANN). — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

An electrical, analog-to-digital interface from wetware to hardware has been a long time coming. — IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2022

Word History

Etymology

wet + software

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for wetware

• abwehr
• affair
• affaire
• airfare
• altair
• armchair
• aware
• beware
• bugbear
• carfare
• childcare
• compare

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