Technology for Hangman 💻

Clues for every answer

A one-line clue for every answer, easy to hard. They're the same clues the game's 💡 Hint shows, so you can read them out when you run your own game.

Phone

Device that lets people talk when they are too far apart to hear each other; its name is Greek for 'distant voice'.

Laptop

Portable personal computer that usually folds like a clamshell, with a flat screen inside its upper lid.

Screen

The viewing area of an electronic device such as a TV or computer, where its output is displayed.

Mouse

Hand-held pointing device that moves a cursor; its name probably comes from its size, shape and tail-like cord.

Camera

Instrument that captures and stores pictures and videos, either with an electronic sensor or on photographic film.

Tablet

Thin, flat mobile computer with a touchscreen worked by finger or stylus instead of a mouse.

Robot

Machine, especially one programmed by a computer, that can carry out a complex series of actions automatically.

Wifi

Radio networking that lets nearby devices swap data and get online; a branding firm coined its name.

Email

Method of sending and receiving digital messages over a computer network; addresses put a domain name after the @ sign.

Browser

Application for visiting websites: it fetches a page's files from a web server and shows the page on your screen.

Server

Computer or program that provides data and resources to other computers, known as clients, across a network.

Pixel

Smallest addressable element of a digital picture, usually arranged in a grid and often made of red, green and blue.

Cable

Assembly of one or more wires, side by side or bundled, that carries electric power or signals between devices.

Keyboard

Input device modelled on the typewriter, with an arrangement of buttons you press to type letters, numbers and symbols.

Battery

Source of electric power made of one or more electrochemical cells; rechargeable kinds can be used many times.

Printer

Machine that makes a lasting copy of text or pictures, usually on paper; types include inkjet and laser.

Monitor

Output device that displays a computer's pictures and text; modern ones are typically LCDs with LED backlights.

Charger

Device that stores energy in a battery by running electric current through it; some sense when to cut off at the end.

Speaker

Device that turns an electrical audio signal into sound by moving air; it works like a microphone in reverse.

Router

Networking device that forwards packets of data between networks, such as between home computers and the internet.

Algorithm

Well-defined set of instructions that solves a problem in a finite number of steps; its name comes from al-Khwarizmi.

Database

Organised collection of stored information run by management software; most relational ones are queried with SQL.

Software

The programs that instruct a computer, from operating systems to apps; the word is credited to John Tukey.

Hardware

The physical parts of a computer, such as the CPU, memory and case, plus devices like a mouse and keyboard.

Network

Group of computers and devices that communicate, sending data to each other by agreed rules called protocols.

Firewall

Network security system that checks incoming and outgoing traffic against rules, typically shielding a trusted network.

Encryption

Turning information into ciphertext that, ideally, only authorised people can decode, like the Caesar cipher.

Interface

Space where humans and machines meet so people can operate a machine, often through keyboards, mice and monitors.

Bandwidth

In computing, the maximum rate of data transfer along a given path; network tests measure it as maximum throughput.

Processor

Also called the CPU: a computer's main circuitry, carrying out program instructions like arithmetic and logic.

Bluetooth

Short-range wireless standard for linking nearby devices, named after a 10th-century Danish king's nickname.

Podcast

Programme to download over the internet, mainly audio, usually with regular hosts discussing a topic.

Streaming

Delivering video or music over a network to play in real time, rather than downloading the whole file first.

Gigabyte

Unit of digital data: in SI terms a billion of the units that usually hold eight bits each.

Platform

In computing, the infrastructure that software runs on, such as a computer's architecture and operating system.

Hyperlink

Digital reference you click or tap to jump straight to a document or to a specific part of one.

Touchscreen

Display that senses fingers or a stylus, so users can tap, swipe and pinch directly on what they see.

Microchip

Integrated circuit: tiny parts such as transistors built onto a thin, flat piece of material, usually silicon.

Spreadsheet

Computer application for working with data in a table of cells, where formulas calculate values from other cells.

Terabyte

Data unit: in SI terms a trillion of the units that usually hold eight bits; its prefix is Greek for 'monster'.

Cryptocurrency

Type of digital asset, such as bitcoin, that uses a shared ledger like a blockchain to make transactions secure.

Blockchain

Shared ledger where each record holds a hash of the one before, so it resists alteration; bitcoin uses one.

Machine Learning

Field of AI where statistical algorithms generalise from data to do tasks without being explicitly programmed.

Virtual Reality

Simulated experience using 3D head-mounted displays, so you can look and move around inside an artificial world.

Augmented Reality

Tech that overlays live 3D computer graphics onto your view of the physical world through a handheld device or headset.

Nanotechnology

Handling matter with at least one dimension of 1 to 100 billionths of a metre, where quantum effects matter.

Biotechnology

Using living things such as bacteria, yeast and plants to do useful jobs or make products, from medicines to cheese.

Quantum Computing

Processing information with qubits, which can be in a combination of states; current machines are largely experimental.

Neural Network

Model of connected units that loosely imitate brain cells, arranged in layers that pass signals along.

Open Source

Publishing software or other digital work with its underlying code, so anyone can use, study, change and share it.

Javascript

Programming language that is a core technology of the Web alongside HTML and CSS; Brendan Eich created it in 1995.

Cloud Computing

On-demand network access to a shared pool of server time and storage that can grow or shrink.

Deep Learning

Training neural networks with many layers (three to thousands), used in speech recognition and computer vision.

Microprocessor

A computer's CPU built on one integrated circuit, or a few, with all the circuitry to run machine code.

Cybersecurity

Protecting computer software, systems and networks from threats such as theft, damage or disruption of services.

Semiconductor

Material like silicon that carries electricity better than insulators but worse than metals like copper.

Supercomputer

Machine with high performance compared to an ordinary PC, used for things like weather forecasting.

Geolocation

The position of a person or object, such as latitude and longitude, worked out with methods like satellites or WiFi.

Biometrics

Body measurements, such as fingerprints, face and iris recognition, used to identify people and control access.

Virtualisation

Technologies that divide one physical computer's resources into separate simulated machines, managed by a hypervisor.