Word

Word

In linguistics, a word is the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content (with literal or practical meaning). This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own. A word may consist of a single morpheme (for example: oh!, rock, red, quick, run, expect), or several (rocks, redness, quickly, running, unexpected), whereas a morpheme may not be able to stand on its own as a word (in the words just mentioned, these are -s, -ness, -ly, -ing, un-, -ed). A complex word will typically include a root and one or more affixes (rock-s, red-ness, quick-ly, run-ning, un-expect-ed), or more than one root in a compound (black-board, rat-race). Words can be put together to build larger elements of language, such asphrases (a red rock), clauses (I threw a rock), and sentences (He threw a rock too but he missed).

The term word may refer to a spoken word or to a written word, or sometimes to the abstract concept behind either. Spoken words are made up of units of sound called phonemes, and written words of symbols called graphemes, such as the letters of the English alphabet.

Principal Translations
word n	(linguistic unit)	palabra nf
	This sentence has five words.
	Esta frase tiene cinco palabras.
word n	(promise) jurar	palabra nf
	He gave his word that he would fix the problem by Friday.
	Dio su palabra de que solucionaría el problema para el viernes.
word vtr	(phrase)	redactar⇒ vtr
	You should word it differently so he doesn't get upset.
	Deberías redactarlo de otra manera, para que no se enfade.