Firmware is special software that is built into a device’s hardware and controls its basic functions, like how it starts up or communicates. It usually doesn’t change often and runs at a low level.
It blends “firm,” suggesting something fixed, with “software,” the programs that run on computers. The word was created to describe code that sits between hardware and regular software.
Firmware is like the device’s subconscious—it quietly runs in the background, telling the hardware how to behave. Updating firmware can radically change what a gadget can do, even though nothing you can see has been replaced.
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