Hardware: Countable or Uncountable? | Mastering Grammar

(Last Updated: 28 August 2024)

Is Hardware Countable or Uncountable?

Hardware is an uncountable noun and should not be used in the plural form. Instead of hardwares, we refer to multiple computer components or tools collectively as hardware:

✅ He is responsible for maintaining the office's IT hardware.
❌ He is responsible for maintaining the office's IT hardwares.

✅ The company specialises in hardware for gaming consoles.
❌ The company specialises in hardwares for gaming consoles.

✅ She visited the store to buy some new hardware for her kitchen cabinets.
❌ She visited the store to buy some new hardwares for her kitchen cabinets.

✅ There is so much hardware in the workshop that it is hard to find anything.
❌ There are so many hardwares in the workshop that it is hard to find anything.

To refer to a single computer component or tool, use a piece of hardware. Do not say a hardware:

✅ The engineer examined a piece of hardware that was malfunctioning.
❌ The engineer examined a hardware that was malfunctioning.

✅ He bought a new piece of hardware for his gaming setup.
❌ He bought a new hardware for his gaming setup.

✅ Each piece of hardware was carefully tested before being approved for use.
❌ Each hardware was carefully tested before being approved for use.

✅ The technician brought several pieces of hardware to the repair site.
❌ The technician brought several hardwares to the repair site.

The entry for the noun hardware (sense 1) in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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Examples from the Media

The 300 square-foot unit has Clei furniture that's designed with European hardware, so it's not just your everyday Murphy bed. —Toronto Sun (2013)

Having a programmer around the house is most helpful, since a personal computer is just so much hardware without an instruction program ("software") to guide it through an assigned task. —The New York Times (1979)

Only the front part, windows and a piece of hardware remained, and a piece of the engine is lying on one wing. Everything else burned out. —Daily Mail (2023)

Both pieces of hardware are designed to help companies fetch information stored on Oracle's database software more quickly while taking up less space in corporate data centers. —The Sydney Morning Herald (2008)

Recommended Further Reading

Software: Countable or Uncountable?