Cpu

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Central Processing Unit, which acts as the primary component of a computer that performs calculations and processes data
2. A critical semiconductor device responsible for executing instructions and managing tasks in computing systems
3. The core hardware element that functions as the brain of a computer, executing programs and controlling other components

Etymology: CPU stands for "central processing unit," a phrase that dates to the mid-1960s, when computer designers needed a name for the part that executes instructions. The "central" points to the idea that this unit sits at the heart of the machine, coordinating everything else, while "processing" refers to the carrying out of computational operations on data. Early machines of the 1940s and 1950s had no single named component like this; the functions were spread across hardware that engineers described in their own terms. The abbreviation is a plain initialism, pronounced letter by letter as "see-pee-you," and it appears in print at least as early as the late 1960s. Its use spread with the microprocessor in the 1970s, when an entire central unit could be fabricated on one chip. Because the term describes a function rather than a specific design, it has outlived many of the physical forms it once named.

Synonyms: processor, central processing unit, microprocessor