Standard Lemma guide

motherboard

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈmʌðɚˌbɔɹd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AH1 DH ER0 B AO2 R D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computer-hardware, computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mainboard, system board, logic board, mobo, fatherboard, fabo

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Compound of mother + board. Attested since 1965.

Across languages

Translations

66 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: moederbord — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Arabic: اللَّوْحَةُ الأُمّ (al-lawḥatu l-ʔumm) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Azerbaijani: ana lövhə — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Bengali: মাদারবোর্ড (madarbōrḍ) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Bulgarian: дънна платка (dǎnna platka) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Catalan: placa mare — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Catalan: placa base — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Catalan: targeta mare — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Cantonese: 主機板 /主机板 (zyu2 gei1 baan2) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Cantonese: 主板 (zyu2 baan2) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Cantonese: 母板 (mou5 baan2) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Cantonese: 底板 (dai2 baan2) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 主板 (zhǔbǎn) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 母板 (mǔbǎn) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 主機板 /主机板 (zhǔjībǎn) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 系統板 /系统板 (xìtǒngbǎn) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Chinese Mandarin: 底板 (dǐbǎn) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Czech: základní deska — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Danish: bundkort — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Danish: motherboard — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Dutch: moederbord — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Esperanto: ĉefkarto — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Esperanto: ĉeftabulo — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Esperanto: patrinplato — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Estonian: emaplaat — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Finnish: emolevy — primary circuit board of a computer
  • French: carte mère — primary circuit board of a computer
  • French: carte principale — primary circuit board of a computer
  • French: carte de fond de panier — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Georgian: დედაპლატა (dedaṗlaṭa) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Georgian: მაზერი (mazeri) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • German: Hauptplatine — primary circuit board of a computer
  • German: Mainboard — primary circuit board of a computer
  • German: Motherboard — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Greek: μητρική κάρτα (mitrikí kárta) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Hindi: मदरबोर्ड (madarborḍ) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Hungarian: alaplap — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Icelandic: móðurborð — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Ido: matroplako — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Ido: chefoplako — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Irish: máthairchlár — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Italian: scheda madre — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Japanese: マザーボード (mazābōdo) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Japanese: メインボード (meinbōdo) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Kazakh: жүйелік тақта (jüielık taqta) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Khmer: បន្ទះមេ (bɑɑbɑntĕəh mei) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Korean: 메인보드 (meinbodeu) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Korean: 마더보드 (madeobodeu) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Macedonian: матична плоча (matična ploča) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Malay: papan induk — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Polish: płyta główna — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Portuguese: placa-mãe — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Romanian: placă de bază — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Russian: матери́нская пла́та (materínskaja pláta) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Russian: ма́ма (máma) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Serbo-Croatian: матична плоча — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Serbo-Croatian: matična ploča — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Spanish: placa base — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Spanish: motherboard — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Spanish: placa madre — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Swahili: bodimama — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Swedish: moderkort — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Thai: แผงวงจรหลัก — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Turkish: anakart — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Ukrainian: матери́нська пла́та (materýnsʹka pláta) — primary circuit board of a computer
  • Vietnamese: bo mạch chủ — primary circuit board of a computer