word

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /wɜːd/, US /wɝːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English word, inherited from Old English word (“speech, talk, utterance, statement, news”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *wurdą,^[2][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *werdh-, an extended form of *wer- (“to speak, say”).^[3][5][6][7] Its Germanic cognates include Old Saxon word, Dutch woord, German Wort and Old Norse orð,^[3][2] and Gothic has waurd.^[3][2] Outside Germanic it is related to Latin verbum (“word”), Old Prussian wirds and Lithuanian vardas (“name”),^[3][6][4] and through the root to Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “I say”) and ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr, “public speaker”).^[6][8] It is related to verb, verbal, proverb, irony and rhetoric.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Things said, speech, talk: Old English word, before 900;^[10] Barnhart's first example is from about 725, in Beowulf.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word already meant “a promise”, recorded in 971,^[3][2] and in theology Holy Scripture or God's message.^[2] A single utterance or remark is recorded from about 1000,^[10] and a password or watchword from about 1400.^[10] To take someone at their word is from the 1530s.^[2] In the plural, words meant an angry exchange (have words with) from the mid-15th century.^[2] To eat one's words first appears in a 1571 translation of Calvin.^[9] The verb meant “to utter words, speak” probably before 1200, in Layamon,^[3][10] and “to put into words” from 1613,^[3][10] the sense that survives in wording.^[4] In computing a word is a set of bits forming the smallest unit of addressable memory.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English word (Beowulf).^[3]
• 971 – a promise.^[3]
• c. 1000 – a single remark or utterance.^[10]
• before 1200 – verb, to speak (Layamon).^[3]
• c. 1400 – a password.^[10]
• mid-15th century – words, an angry exchange.^[2]
• 1530s – take at one's word.^[2]
• 1571 – eat one's words.^[9]
• 1613 – verb, to put into words.^[3][10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A sound or group of sounds, or its written form, that carries a meaning and can be used on its own.
2. Something said; a remark or comment.
3. (words) The text of a song, as distinct from the music; lyrics.
4. News or information: send word.
5. An assurance or promise: gave her word.
6. A command or signal; a password.
7. (words) An angry exchange; a quarrel.
8. (Word) The Scriptures, or the gospel.
9. (computing) A set of bits handled as a unit of memory.

Verb

1. To express in words; to phrase.

Word family

• misword
• reword

Related words

• verb
• verbal
• verbose
• proverb
• irony
• rhetoric
• wordy
• byword

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin