Word - Meaning, Definition and Examples

Learning word meanings is an important step in the language learning process. When learning a new language, every individual begins with basic words, their meanings and their usage. In this article, you will get to learn what a word means, what word classes are and how new words are formed in the English language.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Word? – Meaning and Definition
• Word Classes and Word Formation
• Examples of Some Commonly Used Words in English
• Frequently Asked Questions on Word Meaning

What Is a Word? – Meaning and Definition

A word is the basic meaningful unit of a language. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a word is defined as “a single unit of language that means something and can be spoken or written”.

In linguistics, a unit of meaning underlying a group of inflected word forms is often referred to as a lexeme. For example, the verb forms ‘love, loves, loved and loving’ are mapped in the brain as inflected forms of a single unit of meaning, or lexeme, called ‘love’.

A word can be just a letter (Examples: I, a) or one that contains multiple syllables (Examples: is, cat, about, theory, comfortable). Two or more words can be combined to form phrases and clauses, which in turn, can be put together to form sentences. There is, however, a particular word order and sentence structure one needs to follow to form meaningful sentences.

Word Classes and Word Formation

What Does the Term ‘Word Class’ Refer To?

Word class is a term used to classify specific groups in which different words can be categorically placed. Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections and determiners are all word classes.

What Is Word Formation?

Word formation in English is a process by which new words are formed by means of inflections. It is done in four main ways – adding a prefix, adding a suffix, combining words to form compound words and converting words from one word class to another.

Examples of Some Commonly Used Words in English

To give you a headstart, here are a few most commonly used words in English for your reference.