Computer mouse
hand-held device used to move a pointer on a computer display
A computer mouse (plural mice; rarely mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the pointer (called a cursor) on a display, which allows a smooth control of the graphical user interface of a computer.
The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was done by Douglas Engelbart in 1968 as part of The Mother of All Demos. Mice originally used two separate wheels to directly track movement across a surface in each dimension. Later, the standard design shifted to use a ball rolling on a surface to detect motion, in turn connected to internal rollers. Most modern mice use optical movement detection with no moving parts. Though originally all mice were connected to a computer by a cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the connected system.
In addition to moving a cursor, computer mice have one or more buttons to allow operations such as the selection of a menu item on the associated display. Mice often also feature other elements, such as touch surfaces and scroll wheels, which enable additional control and dimensional input.
Etymology
The earliest known written use of the term mouse in reference to a computer pointing device is in Bill English's July 1965 publication, "Computer-Aided Display Control".
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Computer mouse” as hand-held device used to move a pointer on a computer display. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7987. The Library of Congress control number is sh93009624. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1968 and 1965.
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This entry incorporates text from “Computer mouse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.