Contents
English
Wikipedia has articles on: Word Most common English words: does « Gutenberg « best « #245: word » light » felt » sinceEtymology
From Middle English < Old English word < Proto-Germanic *wurða- < Proto-Indo-European *werə- (“to speak”).
Pronunciation
Wikipedia has an article on: Word- (RP) IPA: /wɜːd/, SAMPA: /w3:d/
- (US) enPR: wûrd, IPA: /wɝd/, SAMPA: /w3`d/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(r)d
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Noun
word (plural words)
- (linguistics) A distinct unit of language (sounds in speech or written letters) with a particular meaning, composed of one or more morphemes, and also of one or more phonemes that determine its sound pattern.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, II.ii
- Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
- Hamlet: Words, words, words.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, II.ii
- A distinct unit of language which is approved by some authority.
- 1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, p21
- “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word?”
- 1999, Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, p11
- Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. It’s not in the dictionary.
- 1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, p21
- Something promised, (as in a contract or oath).
- I give you my word that I will be there on time.
- News; tidings.
- Have you had any word from John yet?
- A discussion.
- I want to have a word with you.
- (telegraphy) A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space.
- (computer science) A finite string which is not a command or operator.
- (computing) A fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit by a machine. On many 16-bit machines a word is 16 bits or two bytes.
- (group theory) A group element, expressed as a product of group elements.
- (theology, sometimes Word) God.
- (theology, sometimes Word) The Bible.
Usage notes
- (distinct unit of language): In English and other space-delimited languages, it is customary to treat "word" as referring to any sequence of characters delimited by spaces. However, this is not applicable to languages such as Chinese and Japanese, which are normally written without spaces, or to languages such as Vietnamese, which are written with a space between each syllable.
- (computing): The size (length) of a word, while being fixed in a particular machine or processor family design, can be different in different designs, for many reasons. See Wikipedia:Word_(computing) for a full explanation.
Synonyms
- (distinct unit of language): vocable
- (something promised): promise
- (God): God, Logos
- (Bible): word of God, Bible
- See also Wikisaurus:word
Verb
to word (third-person singular simple present words, present participle wording, simple past and past participle worded)
- (transitive) To say or write (something) using particular words.
- I’m not sure how to word this letter to the council.
Synonyms
Translations
say or write using particular words
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
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Interjection
word.; word!
- (slang, urban) truth, to tell the truth or to speak the truth; the shortened form of the statement, "My word is my bond," an expression eventually shortened to "Word is bond," before it finally got cut to just "Word," which is its most commonly used form.
- "Yo, that movie was epic!" / "Word?" ("You speak the truth?") / "Word." ("I speak the truth.")
- (slang, emphatic, stereotypically urban) An abbreviated form of word up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval.
- 2004, Shannon Holmes, Never Go Home Again: A Novel, page 218
- " […] Know what I'm sayin'?" / "Word!" the other man strongly agreed. "Let's do this — "
- 2007, Gabe Rotter, Duck Duck Wally: A Novel, page 105
- " […] Not bad at all, man. Worth da wait, dawg. Word." / "You liked it?" I asked dumbly, stoned still, and feeling victorious. / "Yeah, man," said Oral B. "Word up. […] "
- 2007, Relentless Aaron The Last Kingpin, page 34
- " […] I mean, I don't blame you... Word! […] "
- 2004, Shannon Holmes, Never Go Home Again: A Novel, page 218
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun or verb "word"
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See also
- allomorph
- compound word
- grapheme
- idiom
- lexeme
- listeme
- morpheme
- orthographic
- phrase
- set phrase
- syllable
- term
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
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audio (file)
Verb
word
- The first-person singular present indicative of worden.
- The imperative of worden.
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *wurða- < Proto-Indo-European *werdho- (“word”) < Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“speak”); cognate with Old Frisian word, Old Saxon word (Dutch woord), Old High German wort (German Wort), Old Norse orð (Icelandic orð, Swedish ord), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Latin verbum, Lithuanian vardas, and, more distantly, of Ancient Greek εἴρω (eirō), “I say”) and Old Slavonic rotiti sę (“to swear”) (Russian ротиться (rotit’cja), “to vow”)).
Pronunciation
- IPA: /word/
Noun
word n. (plural word)
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blogs.ft.com
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:23:23 GMT+00:00
Financial Times (blog) by Stefan Wagstyl What's in a word ? Quite a lot if it comes from the People's Bank of China. Shares in Shanghai are up over 2 per cent today after the ...
thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com
By BERNIE BECKER
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:02:03 GM
Without the votes for a comprehensive bill, Senate Democrats will try to pass a more limited energy measure.
What is the word for a bunch of mountains?
Q. I am working on my homework, and need a different word to describe a bunch of mountains, what would be that word?
Asked by jr08540 - Thu Oct 4 16:23:18 2007 - - 11 Answers - 0 Comments
A. a range
Answered by ladi blue - Thu Oct 4 16:26:22 2007
Q. I am working on my homework, and need a different word to describe a bunch of mountains, what would be that word?
Asked by jr08540 - Thu Oct 4 16:23:18 2007 - - 11 Answers - 0 Comments
A. a range
Answered by ladi blue - Thu Oct 4 16:26:22 2007
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