Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1982
Shareware
share software
- Meaning
- Software distributed freely with a request for payment if the user keeps it.
- Source words
- share + software
- Coined by
- Bob Wallace / Jim Knopf
- Year
- 1982
Background
Wallace used *shareware* for his PC-Write word processor; Knopf used *user-supported software*. Wallace's term won. Shareware dominated 1980s–90s PC software distribution via magazine cover-disks and BBSes.
Late 20th century
Marketing, media, and the early internet. Infomercial, emoticon, workaholic — the coinages name phenomena of mass media and white-collar life. Several predate the decades they're associated with.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.