Motherboard

//ˈmʌðɚˌbɔɹd// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The primary circuit board of a personal computer, containing the circuitry for the central processing unit, keyboard, mouse and monitor, together with slots for other devices.

    "An electronics shop was selling ugly refurbished computers. They were small black and grey things with exposed motherboards and cracked cases."

Example

More examples

"There's no COM port on this motherboard."

Etymology

Compound of mother + board. Attested since 1965.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.