mainframe

mainframe

English

Etymology

main +‎ frame, in reference to the large cabinet that housed early computers.

Noun

mainframe (plural mainframes)

1. (computer hardware) A large, powerful computer able to manage very many simultaneous tasks and communicate with very many connected terminals; used by large, complex organizations (such as banks and supermarkets) where continuously sustained operation is vital.

   Synonyms: maxicomputer, (informal) maxi

Derived terms

• micromainframe
• minimainframe

Descendants

• → Italian: mainframe
• → Japanese: メインフレーム (meinfurēmu)
• → Portuguese: mainframe
• → Spanish: mainframe

Translations

large computer

Chinese: Mandarin: 主機／主机 (zh) (zhǔjī) Esperanto: ĉeforgano, ĉefa komputilo, ĉefkomputilo, komputilego Finnish: suurtietokone, keskustietokone (fi) German: Großrechner (de) m Greek: μεγαλόσχημος (el) m (megalóschimos) Hungarian: nagygép, nagyszámítógép (hu) Italian: mainframe (it) m Japanese: メインフレーム (meinfurēmu) Kazakh: мэйнфрейм (meinfreim) Norwegian: stormaskin m Portuguese: mainframe (pt) m Russian: мейнфрейм (ru) m (mejnfrejm), мэйнфрейм (ru) m (mɛjnfrejm) Spanish: mainframe (es) m Swedish: stordator c Turkish: anabilgisayar (tr) Vietnamese: máy tính lớn

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French

Etymology

From English mainframe.

Noun

mainframe m (plural mainframes)

1. (computer hardware) mainframe (large, powerful computer connected to terminals)

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English mainframe.

Noun

mainframe m (plural mainframes)

1. (computer hardware) mainframe (large, powerful computer connected to terminals)

Further reading

• mainframe in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

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Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mainframe.

Noun

mainframe m or f (plural mainframes)

1. (computer hardware) mainframe (large, powerful computer connected to terminals)

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Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English mainframe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meinˈfɾeim/ [mẽĩɱˈfɾẽĩm]
• Rhymes: -eim

Noun

mainframe m (plural mainframes)

1. (computer hardware) mainframe (large, powerful computer connected to terminals)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.