Words

Words are the basic units of language that carry meaning and function within sentences. In most languages, a word is a discrete sound or written form that can stand in syntactic positions on its own or with inflection, and that denotes a concept, an action, a property, or a relationship.

Words are divided into classes, commonly called parts of speech. Nouns name entities; verbs express actions or states; adjectives describe properties; adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Pronouns replace nouns; determiners specify reference; prepositions express relations; conjunctions connect words and clauses; numerals indicate quantity; interjections express emotion or abrupt discourse. Content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) carry the main semantic load, while function words (pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries) provide grammatical structure.

Word formation builds new words through derivation (adding prefixes or suffixes), compounding (combining two or more words), inflection (changing form for tense, number, case), clipping, blending, or conversion (shifting word class without changing form). Spelling and pronunciation vary by language; word boundaries are often indicated by spaces in writing and by prosodic cues in speech.

Semantics and syntax govern how words relate to one another. Words have denotation (literal reference) and connotation (associations); they can be polysemous or homonymous. Syntax determines permissible orders and agreements.

Historically, words arise, shift meaning, and borrow across languages. Dictionaries, corpora, and lexicons document words, their meanings, and frequency. Across languages, word formation and boundaries differ, from isolating to agglutinative systems and from simple compounds to long coined terms.