Definition:
A speech sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes. See also:
- Free Morpheme
- Lexeme
- Lexicon
- Vocabulary
- Word Class
- Common Word Roots
- Word Grammar
- Content Word
- Function Word
- Commonly Confused Words
- Daily Word Sites
Etymology:
From Old English, "word"Examples and Observations:
- "[A word is the] smallest unit of grammar that can stand alone as a complete utterance, separated by spaces in written language and potentially by pauses in speech."
(D. Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003) - "A grammar . . . is divided into two major components, syntax and morphology. This division follows from the special status of the word as a basic linguistic unit, with syntax dealing with the combination of words to make sentences, and morphology with the form of words themselves."
(R. Huddleston and G. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002) - "Words are not as satisfactory as we should like them to be, but, like our neighbours, we have got to live with them and must make the best and not the worst of them."
(Samuel Butler) - "We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves."
(John Locke) - "Words acquire new meanings because of changes in society, the desire for euphemism, the need to express intensification, the abbreviation of a longer expression, and the adoption of specialized terms into the general language."
(S. Greenbaum, The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford Univ. Press, 1996) - "A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things."
(Herman Melville)
