microcode

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.?

Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós)

Ancient Greek μῑκρο- (mīkro-)lbor.

English micro-

Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂-

Proto-Italic *kūdō

Latin cūdō?

Proto-Indo-European *keh₂ulisder.

Latin caulis?

Latin caudex

Latin cōdex

Old French codebor.

Middle English code

English code

English microcode

From micro- + code.

Noun

microcode (usually uncountable, plural microcodes)

1. (computing) The collective microprograms in a CPU, used to run machine instructions.

Verb

microcode (third-person singular simple present microcodes, present participle microcoding, simple past and past participle microcoded)

1. (computing, transitive) To write or rewrite (program instructions) in microcode, typically to optimize performance.