<!doctypehtml><html lang=en><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8"http-equiv=Content-type><meta content=width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0 name=viewport><title>
   'central processing unit' entry, definition
  </title><meta name=description><meta content=262574652580-skdf808bv2sv30hs0sbmps9rmtvtkpl6.apps.googleusercontent.com name=google-signin-client_id><link rel="shortcut icon"href=/themes/english4it/images/favicon.png><link href=/themes/shared/css/bootstrap.min.css rel=stylesheet><link href=/css/zespy.min.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/english4it/css/overrides.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/english4it/css/overrides.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/css/dropzone.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/css/fancybox.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/css/nprogress.min.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/slick/slick/slick.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/slick/slick/slick-theme.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/css/jquery.circliful.css rel=stylesheet><link href=/themes/shared/css/summernote.css?b2e22a2f6 rel=stylesheet><style>.note-editor {
						width: 500px !important;
					}</style><body data-zuclasskey data-zuemail=guest@null.com data-zuid=1><div class=no-max-width-small id=wrap><header class="navbar navbar-fixed-top navbar--white"id=header><nav class=zespy-max-width><div class=navbar-header><button class="navbar-toggle header-nav__button"data-target=.navbar-main data-toggle=collapse type=button><span class="icon-bar header-nav__button-line"> </span> <span class="icon-bar header-nav__button-line"> </span> <span class="icon-bar header-nav__button-line"> </span></button><div class=navbar-brand><div class=noborder id=site-logo-holder><a href=/ id=link-home style=border:0; title=English4IT> <div style=display:inline-block><img alt=logo id=site-logo src=/themes/english4it/images/site-logo.png?b2e22a2f6></div> </a></div></div></div><div class="collapse navbar-collapse navbar-main navbar-right"id=znav-links><ul class="nav navbar-nav header-nav__navigation"><li><a class=header-link href=/register/student id=btn-student-register> Student TRIAL </a><li> <a class=header-link href=/register/teacher id=btn-teacher-register> Teacher DEMO </a><li class=header-nav-item><a class="header-link header-link--outline underline"href=/login id=btn-sign-in> <i class="fas fa-sign-in-alt"> </i> Login </a><li class=header-nav-item><a class=header-link href=/shop id=link-shop> <i class="fas fa-cart-plus"> </i> Shop </a></ul></div></nav></header><main class=zespy-max-width><div class="content-sticky main-margin-padding"><div><div class=row><div class="display-table col-xs-12 col-sm-12 pull-left"><h1><a class="back-button image"alt=Back href=/dictionary id=back-button title=Back> <span class="primary-color fas fa-arrow-circle-left"> </span> </a>  Central processing unit</h1></div><div class="pull-right col-xs-12 col-sm-3"><div class="small uppercase text-right"style=margin-top:.5em><strong> </strong></div></div></div><div class="clearfix well well-sm"><div class=dictionary-lightbox><div class=dictionary-entry><div class="term-audio-holder float-left"><div class=noborder><div style="float: left;display:inline-block;"class=pronunciation-english onclick=document.getElementById('dictionary-59-143911').play();><span class="speaker-padding image"> <i class="small fas fa-play-circle"> </i> </span><span class=xsmall> US <i class="fa fa-male"> </i> </span><br><audio class=small-audio id=dictionary-59-143911><source src=/media/sounds/dictionary/143911/59.mp3?f=1635703574 type=audio/mpeg></audio></div></div></div><div class="large float-left"><dt id=dictionary-entry-59>CPU (central processing unit)</dt></div><div class=clearfix></div><div class=float-left><dd>The main computational section of a computer that interprets and executes instructions</div></div><div class=clearfix></div><div class=spacer2></div><div id=example-sentence><div class=noborder style=float:left;>Many people still refer incorrectly to an entire computer as a CPU. where in fact they are referring to only the processor, or in larger computers, the series of processors and interconnecting data buses.</div><div class=clearfix></div></div><div class=clearfix></div><div class=spacer2></div></div></div></div><div style="clear: both"></div></div></main></div><div class=clearfix></div><footer class="navbar navbar-fixed-bottom row"id=footer style=min-height:35px><div class="contact-us xsmall float-right"style=margin-top:10px;><a class=subtle href=mailto:service@english4work.com rel=nofollow target=_blank> <i class="fa fa-pad fa-envelope fa"aria-hidden=true> </i> Contact Us </a></div><div class="copyright xsmall float-left"style=margin-top:10px;>© 2005-2021 <span class=notranslate> English 4 Work </span> . All rights reserved. Powered and operated by <a class=footer-link href=https://www.english4work.com target=_blank> English4Work </a> .This website is intended for language learning purposes only.</div></footer><script src=/themes/shared/js/jquery.min.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/bootstrap.min.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/fancybox.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/jquery.circliful.min.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/slick/slick/slick.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/dropzone.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/html5shiv.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/summernote.min.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/ajax.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=/themes/shared/js/page.js?b2e22a2f6></script><script src=https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/slick-carousel/1.6.0/slick.js></script><script>$(document).ready(function(){
        var module = window.location.hash;
        if (!module) {
            module='1';
        }
        $("#link-tab-"+module).trigger('click');
    });</script><script>// called from WorldRanking Controller</script><style>.note-editor {
            width:500px !important;
        }</style><script>$(document).ready(function () {
        $('.summernote').summernote({
            toolbar: [
                ['color', ['color']],
                ['style', ['bold', 'italic', 'underline', 'clear']],
                ['codeview', ['codeview']]
            ]
        });

    });</script><script>(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
                (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
                m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
            })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

            ga('create', 'UA-720228-1', 'auto');
            ga('send', 'pageview');</script><script src=https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js></script><script>function alertme() {
      document.location.reload(true)
	}</script><link href=https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bootstrap3-dialog/1.34.7/css/bootstrap-dialog.min.css rel=stylesheet><script src=https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bootstrap3-dialog/1.34.7/js/bootstrap-dialog.min.js></script>