INPUT is English expression meaning input. The term is widely used in the area of Information Technology (IT), as well as in several other areas of human activity, such as electricity, hydraulics, etc.
In the area of Information Technology, there are three phases necessary for the development of a job: input (INPUT), processing and output (OUTPUT). The input phase is characterized by the act of providing the data that the computer will work with during processing to finally produce the output information.
The input and output of data and information on the computer, whose acronyms used in IT jargon are I/O (input/output, in Portuguese) or I/O (input/output, in English), occurs through several devices, generically called 'peripherals'.
Currently, the vast majority of peripherals have input and output function and only a few have use only for one of the two functions.
The only input peripherals are keyboard, mouse, microphone, scanner, biometric equipment (recognition of fingerprints, hands, faces, iris, among others), barcode readers etc. The ones that have a unique output function are: printer and speakers.
Peripherals with input and output (I/O) function are: hard disks (HD, "Hard Disk") or flexible disks (CD, DVD, BD and similar), the "Touch Screen" type screen itself (screen sensitive to touch), pen drives, cards and the like, joystick and the like when they are of the vibrating type or allow some tactile sensation, digital mobile equipment and the like (cell phones and cameras digital).
See too: What is Biometrics.