means The coded programs, instructions, and data that tell a computer what to do, as opposed to the physical machinery that runs them.

from A compound of 'soft' and 'ware,' built as the natural twin of 'hardware' — that older word for tools and metal goods, where '-ware' means 'manufactured articles' (the same '-ware' in earthenware, silverware, and tableware). When computers split into the physical machine and the intangible instructions running on it, English reached for the opposite of 'hard' to name the part you couldn't touch. The term took hold among engineers and mathematicians in the mid-20th century; the statistician John Tukey is often credited with putting it into print, though the coinage was likely floating in the air as the field itself took shape.