What is the difference between a core component, an engine, and a kernel? [closed]

From Software engine - Wikipedia: A software engine is a core component of a complex software system. The word "engine" is a metaphor of a car's engine. Thus a software engine is a complex subsystem. So I take that software engine and core component are synonyms? But I see that you have systems having multiple engines, like web browser having the rendering engine and the JS engine. But I guess nobody says a system has multiple cores. So I guess we can say the combination of all the engines in one system is the core of it? From Kernel (operating system) - Wikipedia: A kernel is a computer program at the core of a computer's operating system that always has complete control over everything in the system. So I guess kernel is just the core in the context of operating system. So can we say there are multiple engines inside the kernel? If yes, what are they? Well, there is multi-core processor, but it is in hardware context though

Feb 28, 2025 - 09:55

A software engine is a core component of a complex software system. The word "engine" is a metaphor of a car's engine. Thus a software engine is a complex subsystem.

So I take that software engine and core component are synonyms? But I see that you have systems having multiple engines, like web browser having the rendering engine and the JS engine. But I guess nobody says a system has multiple cores*. So I guess we can say the combination of all the engines in one system is the core of it?

From Kernel (operating system) - Wikipedia:

A kernel is a computer program at the core of a computer's operating system that always has complete control over everything in the system.

So I guess kernel is just the core in the context of operating system. So can we say there are multiple engines inside the kernel? If yes, what are they?

_{* Well, there is multi-core processor, but it is in hardware context though}