GPU

¹ American  

[gay-pay-oo, jee-pee-yoo] / ˈgeɪˌpeɪˈu, ˈdʒiˌpiˈju /

Or G.P.U.

abbreviation

1. (in the Soviet Union) the secret-police organization (1922–23) functioning under the NKVD.

---

GPU ² American  

abbreviation

1. General Postal Union. See Universal Postal Union.

---

GPU ³ American  

abbreviation

Computers.

1. graphics processing unit: a secondary processor usually dedicated to performing the calculations necessary for producing computer graphics, lessening the burden on the main processor.

---

GPU British  

abbreviation

1. State Political Administration; the Soviet police and secret police from 1922 to 1923

---

Etymology

Origin of GPU¹

From Russian G(osudárstvennoe) p(olitícheskoe) u(pravlénie) “state political directorate”

Origin of GPU³

First recorded in 1970–75

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

GPU

Nvidia created the first GPU in 1999, riding the intersection of video games, data centers, cloud computing and now generative AI.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026

"The first impression was, well, I thought it was completely irrelevant," says Diamos, a pioneer in harnessing Nvidia's powerful GPU chips for AI.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

However, “demand for GPU time is surging to record levels,” McPeake said in a Thursday note to clients, referring to the process by which neocloud customers rent computing power for certain amounts of time.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

The company initially catered heavily to cryptocurrency miners before the AI boom redirected its attention toward computing using Nvidia’s GPU processors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

But the real test for the Chinese company, along with three other so-called “little GPU tigers,” has yet to come.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---