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word

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Wordandworð

English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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other pronunciations

Etymology 1

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The wordabout signed inAmerican Sign Language.

FromMiddle Englishword, fromOld Englishword, fromProto-West Germanic*word, fromProto-Germanic*wurdą, fromProto-Indo-European*wr̥dʰh₁om.Doublet ofverb andverve; further related tovrata.

Noun

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word (countable anduncountable,pluralwords)

  2. (semantics) The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallestdiscrete,meaningful unit of language.(contrastmorpheme.)
    • 1897, Ouida, “The New Woman”, inAn Altruist and Four Essays, page239:
      But everyword, whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, everyword which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music.
    • 1986, David Barrat,Media Sociology,→ISBN, page112:
      Theword, whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, 'Maggie' would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds.
    • 2009, Jack Fitzgerald,Viva La Evolucin,→ISBN, page233:
      Brian and Abby signed thewordclothing, in which the thumbs brush down the chest as though something is hanging there. They both spoke thewordclothing. Brian then signed theword forchange,[…]
    • 2013 June 14,Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, inThe Guardian Weekly, volume189, number 1, page37:
      Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost anyword we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.
    1. The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or morephonemes and one or moremorphemes
      • 1894, Alex. R. Mackwen, “The Samaritan Passover”, inLittell's Living Age, volume 1, number 6:
        Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whosewords grew louder and louder,[…]
      • 1897 December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill, chapter IV, inThe Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company; London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC:
        Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow ofwords, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
      • 2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan,The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4:
        I can't believe you want me back.
        You've got Jen to thank for that. Herwords the other day moved me deeply. Very deeply indeed.
        Really? What did she say.
        Like I remember! Point is it's the effect of herwords that's important.
    2. The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or moreletters orsymbols and one or moremorphemes
      • c.1599–1602 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene ii]:
        Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
        Hamlet:Words,words,words.
      • 2003, Jan Furman,Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook,→ISBN, page194:
        The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read theword but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape,[…]
      • 2009, Stanislas Dehaene,Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read,→ISBN:
        Well-meaning academics even introduced spelling absurdities such as the “s” in theword “island,” a misguided Renaissance attempt to restore the etymology of the [unrelated] Latin wordinsula.
    3. A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by anauthority ornative speaker (comparenon-word).
      • 1896,Israel Zangwill,Without Prejudice, page21:
        “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t aword?”
      • 1999, Linda Greenlaw,The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, page11:
        Fisherwoman isn’t even aword. It’s not in the dictionary.
  3. Something like such a unit of language:
    Hypernym:syntagma
    1. Asequence ofletters, characters, orsounds, considered as adiscreteentity, though it does not necessarily belong to a language or have a meaning.
      • 1974,Thinking Goes to School: Piaget's Theory in Practice,→ISBN, page183:
        In still another variation, the nonsenseword is presented and the teacher asks, "What sound was in the beginning of the word?" "In the middle?" and so on. The child should always respond with the phoneme; he should not use letter labels.
      • 1999,Matt Ridley,Genome, Harper Collins,→ISBN,page301:
        All 15.5 million ‘words’ (or so–the exact length depends on the repeat sequences, which vary greatly) in the twenty-second chapter of the human autobiography have been read and written down in English letters: 47 million As, Cs, Gs and Ts.
      • 2003,How To Do Everything with Your Tablet PC,→ISBN, page278:
        I wrote a nonsenseword, "umbalooie," in the Input Panel's Writing Pad. Input Panel converted it to "cembalos" and displayed it in the Text Preview pane.
      • 2006,Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse,→ISBN, page141:
        Here the scribe has dropped the με from καθημενος, thereby creating the nonsenseword καθηνος.
      • 2013,The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language,→ISBN, page91:
        If M. V. has sustained impairment to a phonological output process common to reading and repetition, we might anticipate that her mispronunciations will partially reflect the underlying phonemic form of the nonsenseword.
    2. (telegraphy) A unit oftext equivalent to fivecharacters and onespace.[from 19th c.]
    4. (computing) A fixed-size group ofbits handled as a unit by a machine and which can be stored in or retrieved from a typicalregister (so that it has the same size as such a register).[from 20th c.]
      • 1997, John L. Hennessy with David A. Patterson,Computer Organization and Design, 2nd edition, San Francisco, California: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.,§3.3, page109:
        The size of a register in the MIPS architecture is 32 bits; groups of 32 bits occur so frequently that they are given the nameword in the MIPS architecture.
    6. (computing) With regards to Intel or Intel-compatible hardware and/or in the context of Windows programming, a group of exactly 16bits regardless of the actual processor capabilities; a fossilized unit referring to the small word size of historical CPUs.[from 20th c.]
    7. (computer science) Afinitestring that isnot acommand oroperator.[from 20th c.]
    8. (group theory) Agroupelement, expressed as aproduct of group elements.
  4. The fact or act ofspeaking, as opposed to takingaction.[from 9th c].
    • 1811,Jane Austen,Sense and Sensibility:
      […] she believed them still so very much attached to each other, that they could not be too sedulously divided inword and deed on every occasion.
    • 2004 September 8, Richard Williams,The Guardian:
      As they fell apart against Austria, England badly needed someone capable of leading byword and example.
  5. (now rare outside certain phrases) Something that someone said; acomment,utterance;speech.[from 10th c.]
    • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Matthew26:75:
      And Peter remembered theword of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
    • 1847,Alfred Tennyson,The Princess:
      She said; but at the happyword "he lives", / My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound.
    • 1853,Charles Dickens,Bleak House:
      There is only one other point on which I offer aword of remark.
    • 1945 April 1, Sebastian Haffner,The Observer:
      "The Kaiser laid down his arms at a quarter to twelve. In me, however, they have an opponent who ceases fighting only at five minutes past twelve," said Hitler some time ago. He has never spoken a truerword.
    • 2011,David Bellos,Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, Penguin, published2012, page126:
      Despite appearances to the contrary [...] dragomans stuck rigidly to their brief, which was not to translate the Sultan's words, but hisword.
    • 2011, John Lehew (senior),The Encouragement of Peter,→ISBN, page108:
      In what sense is God's Word living? No otherword, whether written or spoken, has the power that the Bible has to change lives.
  6. (obsolete outside certain phrases) Awatchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words).
    • 1592, William Shakespeare,Richard III:
      Our ancientword of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
    • c.1623, John Fletcher, William Rowley,The Maid in the Mill, published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio), published1647, scene 3:
      I have theword : sentinel, do thou stand;[…]
  7. (obsolete) Aproverb ormotto.
    • 1499,John Skelton,The Bowge of Court:
      Among all other was wrytten in her trone / In golde letters, thisworde, whiche I dyde rede: /Garder le fortune que estmauelz etbone.
    • 1599, Ben Jonson,Every Man out of His Humour:
      Let theword be 'Not without mustard'. Your crest is very rare, sir.
    • 1646,Joseph Hall,The Balm of Gilead:
      The oldword is, 'What the eye views not, the heart rues not.'
  9. (uncountable)News;tidings.[from 10th c.]
    Have you had anyword from John yet?
    I've tried for weeks to getword, but I still don't know where she is or if she's all right.
    • 1943 November –1944 February (date written; published1945 August 17),George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair],Animal Farm […], London:Secker & Warburg, publishedMay 1962,→OCLC:
      Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals.
  10. Anorder; arequest orinstruction; an expression of will.[from 10th c.]
    He sentword that we should strike camp before winter.
    Don't fire till I give theword
    Their mother'sword was law.
  12. Apromise; anoath orguarantee.[from 10th c.]
    Synonym:promise
    I give you myword that I will be there on time.
  13. A briefdiscussion orconversation.[from 15th c.]
    Can I have aword with you?
  14. (meiosis) A minorreprimand.
    I had aword with him about it.
  15. (in theplural)Seewords.
    There had beenwords between him and the secretary about the outcome of the meeting.
  16. (theology, sometimesWord) Communication fromGod; themessage of the Christiangospel; theBible,Scripture.[from 10th c.]
    Synonyms:word of God,Bible
    Her parents had lived in Botswana, spreading theword among the tribespeople.
  17. (theology, sometimesWord)Logos,Christ.[from 8th c.]
    Synonyms:God,Logos
Usage notes
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  • In English and other languages with a tradition of space-delimited writing, it is customary to treat "word" as referring to any sequence of characters delimited by spaces. However, this is not applicable to languages such asChinese andJapanese, which are normally written without spaces, or to languages such asVietnamese, which are written with spaces delimitingsyllables. In 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. SeeWord (computer architecture) for a full explanation.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Chinese Pidgin English:word,𭉉(Chinese spelling)
Translations
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unit of language
telegraphy: unit of text
computing: fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit
computer science: finite string which is not a command or operator
group theory: kind of group element
fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action
something which has been said
watchword—seewatchword
proverb—seeproverb
news, tidings
order, request, expression of will—see alsoorder,‎request
promise
brief discussion
angry debate; argument
Christ
the word of God

Verb

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word (third-person singular simple presentwords,present participlewording,simple past and past participleworded)

  1. (transitive) Tosay orwrite (something) using particular words; tophrase (something).
    Synonyms:express,phrase,put into words,state
    I’m not sure how toword this letter to the council.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) Toflatter with words, tocajole.
    • 1607, William Shakespeare,Anthony and Cleopatra, act 5, scene 2:
      Hewords me, girls, hewords me, that I should not / be noble to myself.
  3. (transitive) Toply oroverpower with words.
    • 1621 November 30, James Howell,letter to Francis Bacon, from Turin:
      […] if one were to beworded to death, Italian is the fittest Language [for that task]
    • 1829 April, “Webster's Dictionary”, inThe North American Review, volume28, page438:
      […] if a man were to be worded to death, or stoned to death by words, the High-Dutch were the fittest [language for that task].
  4. (transitive, rare) Toconjure with a word.
    • c.1645-1715,Robert South,Sermon on Psalm XXXIX. 9:
      Against him[…] who couldword heaven and earth out of nothing, and can when he pleasesword them into nothing again.
    • 1994, “Liminal Postmodernisms”, inPostmodern Studies, volume 8, page162:
      "Postcolonialism" might well be another linguistic construct, desperately begging for a referent that will never show up, simply because it never existed on its own and was literallyworded into existence by the very term that pretends to be born from it.
    • 2013, Carla Mae Streeter,Foundations of Spirituality: The Human and the Holy,→ISBN, page92:
      The being of each person isworded into existence in the Word,[…]
  5. (intransitive, archaic) Tospeak, to use words; toconverse, todiscourse.
Derived terms
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Translations
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to say or write using particular words
to flatter with words
to ply or overpower with words
to conjure with a word
to speak

Interjection

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word

  1. (slang)Truth,indeed, that is the truth!The shortened form of the statement "My word is my bond."
    "Yo, that movie was epic!" / "Word?" ("You speak the truth?") / "Word." ("I speak the truth.")
  2. (slang, emphatic, stereotypically African-American Vernacular)An abbreviated form ofword up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval.
    • 2004, Shannon Holmes,Never Go Home Again: A Novel, page218:
      "[…] Know what I'm sayin'?" / "Word!" the other man strongly agreed. "Let's do this — "
    • 2007, Gabe Rotter,Duck Duck Wally: A Novel, page105:
      "[…] 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, page34:
      "[…] I mean, I don't blame you...Word![…]"

Quotations

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See also

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Etymology 2

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Variant ofworth(“to become, turn into, grow, get”), fromMiddle Englishworthen, fromOld Englishweorþan(“to turn into, become, grow”), fromProto-West Germanic*werþan, fromProto-Germanic*werþaną(“to turn, turn into, become”). More atworth § Verb.

Verb

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word

  1. Alternative form ofworth(“to become”).

See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromDutchworden, fromMiddle Dutchwerden, fromOld Dutchwerthan, fromProto-Germanic*werþaną.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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word (presentword,present participlewordende,past participlegeword)

  1. tobecome; toget(to change one’s state)
    Ek het rykgeword. ―Ibecame rich.
    Ekword ryk. ―Iam becoming rich.
    Syword beter. ―Sheis getting better.
  2. Forms the present passive voice when followed by a past participle
    Die katword gevoer. ―The catis being fed.

Usage notes

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  • The verb has an archaic preteritewerd:Die katwerd gevoer.(“The catwas fed.”) In contemporary Afrikaans the perfect is used instead:Die katis gevoer.
  • Until the early 20th century this verb still often distinguished the infinitiveworde from the present tenseword (as is now still done withwees ↔is andhê ↔het):Dit moet verbeterworde en ditword ook verbeter.(“It mustbe improved and itis being improved.”)

Chinese Pidgin English

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Alternative forms

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  • 𭉉(Chinese spelling)

Etymology

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FromEnglishword.

Noun

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word

  1. word
    • 1862,唐景星 [Tong King-sing],英語集全 [Chinese English Instructor], volume VI, marginalia, page78; republished as “Pidgin English texts from theChinese English Instructor”, in Michelle Li, Stephen Matthews, Geoff P. Smith, editors,Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics‎[1], volume10, number 1,2005, pages79-167:
      挨仙[sic – meaning⿰口仙]㕭𭉉
      *aai1 sin1[sen1] ju1wut3
      I send youword.
      I will send youword.

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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word

  1. inflection ofworden:
    1. first-personsingularpresentindicative
    2. (in case ofinversion)second-personsingularpresentindicative
    3. imperative

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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FromOld Englishword, fromProto-West Germanic*word, fromProto-Germanic*wurdą, fromProto-Indo-European*werdʰh₁om.Doublet ofverbe.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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word (pluralwordes or(early) word)

  1. Aword(separable, discrete linguistic unit)
    • a.1400,Geoffrey Chaucer, “Book II”, inTroilus and Criseyde, lines22–28:
      Ȝe knowe ek that in fourme of ſpeche is chaunge / With-inne a thousand ȝeer, andwordes tho / That hadden pris now wonder nyce and ſtraunge / Us thenketh hem, and ȝet thei ſpake hem so / And ſpedde as wel in loue as men now do
      You also know that the form of language is in flux; / within a thousand years,words / that had currency; really weird and bizarre / they seem to us now, but they still spoke them / and accomplished as much in love as men do now.
  2. Astatement; a linguistic unit said orwritten by someone:
    1. Aspeech; a formalstatement.
    2. Abyword or maxim; a short expression of truth.
    3. Apromise; anoath orguarantee.
    4. Amotto; anexpression associated with a person or people.
    5. A piece ofnews(often warning or recommending)
    6. Anorder ordirective; something necessary.
    7. Areligious precept,stricture, or belief.
  3. The act ofspeaking(especially as opposed to action):
  4. Discourse; theexchange of statements.
    1. Thebasic, non-figurative reading of something.
    2. The way onespeaks(especially with modifying adjective)
  5. (theology) TheLogos(Jesus Christ)
  6. (rare) The human faculty oflanguage as a whole.
Related terms
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Descendants
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References
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Etymology 2

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Noun

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word

  1. alternative form ofwerde

Old English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromProto-West Germanic*word, fromProto-Germanic*wurdą.

Noun

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word n (nominative pluralword)

  1. word
    • 10th century,The Wanderer:
      Sē þonne þisne wealsteal · wīse ġeþōhte
      ond þis deorce līf · dēope ġeondþenċeð,
      frōd in ferðe, · feor oft ġemon
      wælsleahta worn, · ond þāsword ācwið:
      Then he deeply thinks over this wall-place
      and this dark life with wise thought,
      shrewd in mind, oft recalls the long bygone
      swarm of slaughters, and utters thesewords:
  2. speech,utterance,statement
  3. (grammar)verb
  4. news,information,rumour
  5. command,request
  6. Logos, the Word ofGod, the second person of theTrinity,Jesus
Declension
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Stronga-stem:

singularplural
nominativewordword
accusativewordword
genitivewordesworda
dativewordewordum
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Etymology 2

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Unknown. Perhaps ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*wr̥dʰos(“sweetbriar”). CompareLatinrubus(“bramble”),Persianگل(gol,“flower”).

Noun

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word ?

  1. thornbush

Old Saxon

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Etymology

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FromProto-West Germanic*word, fromProto-Germanic*wurdą.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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word n

  1. word

Declension

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word (neuter a-stem)
singularplural
nominativewordword
accusativewordword
genitivewordeswordō
dativewordewordun
instrumental——
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