personal computer

English

IBM PC 5150 (1981)

A modern personal computer

Etymology

Often attributed to Stewart Brand (1974), but in use before, see quotes.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

personal computer (plural personal computers)

1. (dated) A small computer, built around a microprocessor, for use by one person at a time.

   Synonym: PC

   • 1962 November 3, John Mauchly, quotee, “Pocket Computer May Replace Shopping List”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “There is no reason to suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer,” he said.

   • 1974, Stewart Brand, II Cybernetic Frontiers, New York: Random House, →ISBN, page 88:

     Meanwhile the research center is nifty as ever. Virtuoso Peter Deutsch is working on interactive systems for secretaries. They're part way along on the Dynabook fantasy with a working personal computer the size of a breadbox.

Usage notes

The term personal computer originally was broadly applied to any computer for personal use, for example the Apple II, and distinguished such computers from, say, large corporate mainframes or the smallest microcomputers designed primarily for electronic games or controlling equipment. From the launch of IBM's PC in the early 1980s the term often was used to imply an IBM PC or at least a computer highly compatible with that design, while the term PC was used even more specifically to mean some IBM-compatible computer, capable of running MS-DOS and software designed for the IBM PC and its successors.

Since then the definitions have become even less exact; hardware and software characteristics of what is generally recognised as a PC have changed greatly and the term personal computer is often used for desktop computers or non-dedicated servers that may run multi-user software and be accessed by more than one person (for example: via a local area network). More specific terms (such as desktop, laptop, home computer, Linux workstation), all of which could be based on personal computer hardware, tend to be preferred now unless a very broad term is required.

Coordinate terms

• desktop computer
• laptop computer
• workstation
• home computer
• microcomputer
• minicomputer
• mainframe

Translations

small computer for use by one person at a time — see also PC

• Albanian: kompjuter personal m
• Arabic: كَمْبْيُوتَر شَخْصِيّ m (kambyūtar šaḵṣiyy)
• Armenian: անհատական համակարգիչ (anhatakan hamakargičʻ)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܲܫܘܼܒ݂ܵܐ ܦܲܪܨܘܿܦܵܝܵܐ m (ḥašūḇā parṣōpāyā)
• Azerbaijani: şəxsi kompüter
• Belarusian: персана́льны камп'ю́тар m (pjersanálʹny kampʺjútar), пэрсана́льны кампу́тар m (persanálʹny kampútar) (Taraškievica), ПК m (PK)
• Bengali: ব্যক্তিগত কম্পিউটার (bn) (bêktigoto kompiuṭar)
• Bulgarian: персона́лен компю́тър m (personálen kompjútǎr)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 個人電腦 / 个人电脑 (go³ jan⁴ din⁶ nou⁵)

  Mandarin: 個人電腦 / 个人电脑 (zh) (gèrén diànnǎo)

• Czech: osobní počítač (cs) m
• Danish: personlig computer c
• Dutch: personal computer (nl) m
• Estonian: personaalarvuti
• Faroese: egintelda f, telda (fo) f
• Finnish: henkilökohtainen tietokone
• French: ordinateur personnel m
• Galician: ordenador persoal m
• Georgian: პერსონალური კომპიუტერი (ṗersonaluri ḳomṗiuṭeri)
• German: Personalcomputer (de) m
• Greek: προσωπικός υπολογιστής (el) m (prosopikós ypologistís)
• Hebrew: מחשב אישי m (makhshév ishí)
• Hindi: व्यक्तिगत कंप्यूटर m (vyaktigat kampyūṭar), ज़ाती कंप्यूटर m (zātī kampyūṭar)
• Hungarian: személyi számítógép (hu)
• Icelandic: einkatölva (is) f
• Indonesian: komputer pribadi (id)
• Italian: personal computer (it) m, computer personale m, calcolatore personale m, elaboratore personale m, ordinatore personale m, computatore personale m, computiere personale m
• Japanese: パソコン (ja) (pasokon), ＰＣ (ja) (pī-shī), パーソナルコンピューター (ja) (pāsonaru konpyūtā)
• Kazakh: дербес компьютер (derbes kompüter)
• Korean: 개인용 컴퓨터 (ko) (gaeinyong keompyuteo), 피시 (ko) (pisi)
• Kyrgyz: персоналдык компьютер (personaldık kompyuter)
• Lao: ຄອມພິວເຕີສ່ວນບຸກຄົນ (khǭm phiu tœ̄ sūan buk khon)
• Latvian: personālais dators m
• Lithuanian: asmeninis kompiuteris (lt) m
• Macedonian: личен сметач m (ličen smetač)
• Malay: komputer peribadi
• Navajo: béésh bee akʼeʼelchí áłtsisígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: personlig datamaskin m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: رایانِهٔ شَخْصی (râyâne-ye šaxsi)

• Polish: komputer osobisty (pl) m
• Portuguese: computador pessoal (pt) m
• Romanian: computer personal n, calculator personal n
• Russian: персона́льный компью́тер (ru) m (personálʹnyj kompʹjútɛr), ПК (ru) m (PK)
• Scottish Gaelic: coimpiutair pearsanta m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: персонални рачунар m, персонално рачунало m, особни компјутер m

  Roman: personalni računar m, personalno računalo n, osobni kompjuter m

• Sindhi: ذاتِي ڳڻپيُوڪَرُ (zātī ḡaṇpyūkaru)
• Sinhalese: පෞද්ගලික පරිගණකය (paudgalika parigaṇakaya)
• Slovak: osobný počítač m
• Slovene: osebni računalnik m
• Spanish: ordenador personal m, computadora personal f, computador personal m
• Swedish: persondator (sv) c
• Tajik: компутари фардӣ (komputar-i fardi), роёнаи шахсӣ (royona-yi šaxsi)
• Thai: คอมพิวเตอร์ส่วนบุคคล (th) (kɔm-piu-dtə̂ə-sùuan-bùk-kon)
• Turkish: kişisel bilgisayar (tr)
• Ukrainian: персона́льний комп'ю́тер (uk) m (personálʹnyj kompʺjúter), ПК (uk) m (PK)
• Urdu: ذاتی کَمْپْیُوٹَر m (zātī kampyūṭar)
• Uzbek: shaxsiy kompyuter
• Vietnamese: máy tính cá nhân (vi)

Further reading

• personal computer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia