GC: n

CT: In information technology, the user interface (UI) is everything designed into an information device with which a human being may interact – including display screen, keyboard, mouse, light pen, the appearance of a desktop, illuminated characters, help messages, and how an application program or a Web site invites interaction and responds to it. In early computers, there was very little user interface except for a few buttons at an operator’s console. The user interface was largely in the form of punched card input and report output.

S: http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/user-interface (last access: 22 December 2014)

N: 1. user (n): c.1400, agent noun from use (v.). Of narcotics, from 1935; of computers, from 1967. User-friendly (1977) is said in some sources to have been coined by software designer Harlan Crowder as early as 1972.
interface (n): 1882 (n.), 1967 (v.), from inter- (Latin inter (prep., adv.) “among, between, betwixt, in the midst of,” from PIE enter “between, among”) + face (c.1300, “the human face, a face; facial appearance or expression; likeness, image,” from Old French face “face, countenance, look, appearance” (12c.), from Vulgar Latin facia (source also of Italian faccia), from Latin facies “appearance, form, figure,” and secondarily “visage, countenance,” which probably is literally “form imposed on something” and related to facere “to make”). Related: Interfaced; interfacing.
2. Hardware, software, or both that allows a user to interact with and perform operations on a system, program, or device.
3. The means of communication between a human user and a computer system, referring in particular to the use of input/output devices with supporting software. Examples include the use of a mouse with bit-mapped graphics and the use of windows.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=user&searchmode=none; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=interface&searchmode=none (last access: 22 December 2014). 2 & 3. TERMIUMPLUS.

SYN: 1. UI. 2. interface.

S: 1. TERMIUMPLUS; GDT. 2. TERMIUMPLUS.

CR: artificial intelligence, computer science, intelligent interface man-machine interface.