Firmware is the low-level software built into a device. Update the firmware, a firmware bug, firmware version.
It sits between hardware and software, which is exactly why it was named that in 1967: it is code, but code that belongs to the machine rather than to you. A failed firmware update can leave a device permanently dead.
1nounfirmwareThe low-level software built into a device.
“The camera kept freezing until the company fixed the bug in its firmware.”
firmware is a software.
Coined in 1967 as a term between hardware and software.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰer-
Italian
firma — signature
English
firm
English, today
firmware
Built from
From firm + -ware. Coined in an article in 1967 as an intermediary term between hardware and software. firm Borrowed from Italian firma (“signature”). From Italian firma (“signature”), from firmare (“to sign”), from Latin firmāre (“to make firm, to confirm (by signature)”), from firmus (“firm, stable”). The contemporary sense developed in the 18th century simultaneously with German Firma (“business, name of business”). There are conflicting statements in the literature as to which of the two languages influenced which. a doublet of dharma and dhamma. Other cognates include Russian держать (“to hold”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA