supercomputer

See also: Supercomputer

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *-er

Proto-Indo-European *upér

Proto-Italic *super

Latin super

Latin super-lbor.

English super-

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Latin putus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin putō

Latin computō

Latin computārelbor.

French computerbor.

English compute

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English computer

English supercomputer

From super- + computer.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

supercomputer (plural supercomputers)

1. (computing) Any computer that has a far greater processing power than others of its generation.
   • 1992 March 2, Richard Preston, “The Mountains of Pi”, in The New Yorker‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 September 2026:

     The gigaflop supercomputers of today are almost useless. What is needed is a teraflop machine...

   • 2007 November 18, Jim Holt, “Mind of a Rock”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 December 2024:

     But at the microlevel it consists of an unimaginable number of atoms connected by springy chemical bonds, all jiggling around at a rate that even our fastest supercomputer might envy.

   • 2026, “Opening Night”, Alex Turner (lyrics), performed by Arctic Monkeys:

     Popular slogans and a bucket of paint / Supercomputer on a jolly crusade

Derived terms

• minisupercomputer
• supercomputerlike, supercomputer-like

Related terms

• supercomputation
• supercomputing

Translations

computer that has great processing power

• Catalan: supercomputador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超級計算機 / 超级计算机 (chāojí jìsuànjī), 超級電腦 / 超级电脑 (chāojí diànnǎo)

• Dutch: supercomputer (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: supertietokone
• French: superordinateur (fr) m, supercalculateur (fr) m
• German: Supercomputer (de) m, Superrechner m
• Ido: superkomputero
• Irish: sár-ríomhaire m
• Italian: supercomputer (it) m, supercalcolatore (it) m, superelaboratore (it) m
• Japanese: スーパーコンピューター (ja) (sūpākonpyūtā), スパコン (supakon) (abbreviation)
• Korean: 슈퍼컴퓨터 (ko) (syupeokeompyuteo), 슈퍼컴 (syupeokeom) (abbreviation)
• Polish: superkomputer m inan
• Portuguese: supercomputador (pt) m
• Romanian: supercalculator (ro) n, supercomputer n
• Russian: суперкомпью́тер (ru) m (superkompʹjútɛr), супер-ЭВМ (ru) f (super-EVM)
• Slovak: superpočítač
• Spanish: supercomputador (es) m, supercomputadora (es) f (Latin America), superordenador (es) m (Spain)
• Swedish: superdator (sv) c
• Thai: ซูเปอร์คอมพิวเตอร์
• Turkish: süperbilgisayar
• Vietnamese: siêu máy tính (vi)
• Welsh: uwchgyfrifiadur m

See also

• mainframe

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English supercomputer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsy.pər.kɔmˌpju.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: su‧per‧com‧pu‧ter

Noun

supercomputer m (plural supercomputers, diminutive supercomputertje n)

1. (computing) a supercomputer, type of computer that has great processing power