Microsoft

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A multinational technology company known primarily for developing software products such as operating systems and productivity applications ; a major provider of personal computing platforms and cloud services ; an influential player in the hardware, gaming, and enterprise technology markets
2. A global corporation specializing in software development including widely used operating systems and office software ; a leader in personal computing solutions and cloud infrastructure ; a key entity in designing hardware devices and gaming consoles alongside enterprise software services
3. An international tech firm focusing on software like operating systems and suites for productivity ; a predominant supplier of computing systems and cloud-based tools ; a significant contributor to hardware innovation, gaming technology, and business computing services

Etymology: Microsoft was coined as a blend of "microcomputer" and "software," the two words fused into a single name for a company built around programs for small personal computers. The "-soft" element in the name became a pattern of its own, since the same ending is used in many later names and coinages that treat "software" as a suffix. The name carries its origin in its structure: the first half points to the tiny machines of the era, and the second half names the programs that ran on them. Rather than a person's name or a classical root, the word is a deliberate piece of product naming, assembled from two ordinary terms of the computing world.