different between article vs word

English

Etymology

From Middle English article, from Old French article, from Latin articulus (“a joint, limb, member, part, division, the article in grammar, a point of time”), from Latin artus, from Proto-Indo-European *h?értus (“that which is fit together; juncture, ordering”), from the root *h?er- (“to join, fit (together)”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t?k?l/, [???t??k???]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???t?k?l/, /???t?kl?/, [??(?)???k?]
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?k?l

Noun

article (plural articles)

1. A piece of nonfictional writing such as a story, report, opinion piece, or entry in a newspaper, magazine, journal, dictionary, encyclopedia, etc.
2. An object, a member of a group or class.

3. (grammar) A part of speech that indicates, specifies and limits a noun (a, an, or the in English). In some languages the article may appear as an ending (e.g. definite article in Swedish) or there may be none (e.g. Russian, Pashto).
4. A section of a legal document, bylaws, etc. or, in the plural, the entire document seen as a collection of these.

5. A genuine article.
6. A part or segment of something joined to other parts, or, in combination, forming a structured set.
   • 1785, William Paley, Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy

     upon each article of human duty

   • 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia

     the different articles which compose the blood

7. (derogatory, dated) A person; an individual.

   a shrewd article
8. (archaic) A wench.

9. (dated) Subject matter; concern.

   • a very great revolution that happened in this article of good breeding

   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year

     This last article perhaps will hardly be believed.

10. (dated) A distinct part.
11. (obsolete) A precise point in time; a moment.
    • 1683, John Evelyn, Diary, 13 July 1683.

      This fatal news coming to Hick's Hall upon the article of my Lord Russell's trial, was said to have had no little influence on the jury and all the bench to his prejudice.

    • 1805, Charles Hall, The Effects of Civilisation on the People in European States, Original Preface:

      […] who has more opportunities of acquiring the knowledge, than a physician? He is admitted into the dwellings of all ranks of people, and into the innermost parts of them; he sees them by their fireside, at their tables, and in their beds; he sees them at work, and at their recreations; he sees them in health, in sickness, and in the article of death; […]

    • 1634, William Habington, Castara

      each article of time

Derived terms

Related terms

• articulate
• articulation

Translations

Verb

article (third-person singular simple present articles, present participle articling, simple past and past participle articled)

1. (transitive) To bind by articles of apprenticeship.

   to article an apprentice to a mechanic

   • 1876, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Vicar of Morwenstow, Chapter LIV

     When the boy left school at Liskeard, he was articled to a lawyer, Mr. Jacobson, at Plymouth, a wealthy man in good practice, first cousin to his mother; but this sort of profession did not at all approve itself to Robert's taste, and he only remained with Mr. Jacobson a few months.

2. (obsolete) To accuse or charge by an exhibition of articles or accusations.
   • 1665, Samuel Pepys, Diary, March 1665

     At noon dined alone with Sir W. Batten, where great discourse of Sir W. Pen, Sir W. Batten being, I perceive, quite out of love with him, thinking him too great and too high, and began to talk that the world do question his courage, upon which I told him plainly I have been told that he was articled against for it, and that Sir H. Vane was his great friend therein.

   • 1793, Manning of the Navy Act (Statutes of George III 33 c. 66) ¶VIII[2]:

     […] if the Captain of any Merchant ship under convoy shall wilfully disobey Signals […] he shall be liable to be articled against in the High Court of Admiralty […]

3. To formulate in articles; to set forth in distinct particulars.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     If […] all his errors and follies were articled against him, the man would seem vicious and miserable.

Derived terms

• articled clerk

Further reading

• article in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• article in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• clairet, lacerti, recital

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin articulus. Compare the inherited doublet artell.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /???ti.kl?/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?r?ti.kl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /a??ti.kle/

Noun

article m (plural articles)

1. article (a piece of nonfictional writing)
2. (grammar) article

Derived terms

• article determinat
• article definit

Further reading

• “article” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “article” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “article” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “article” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Old French article, borrowed from Latin articulus. Compare the inherited doublet orteil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?.tikl/

Noun

article m (plural articles)

1. article (a piece of nonfictional writing)
2. (grammar) article
3. merchandise, sales article
4. section (of a law)
5. (dated) joint, articulation
6. moment (only in the phrase à l'article de la mort)

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “article” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin articulus.

Pronunciation

Noun

article m (plural articles)

1. article (a piece of nonfictional writing)

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin articulus.

Noun

article m (oblique plural articles, nominative singular articles, nominative plural article)

1. (anatomy) joint; articulation
2. (religion) article (of faith)
3. article (clause in a legal document or treaty)

Usage notes

• Occasionally used as a feminine noun

Descendants

• French: article

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (article, supplement)
• article on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

English

Alternative forms

• vurd (Bermuda)
• worde (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??d/
• (General American) enPR: wûrd, IPA^(key): /w?d/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d
• Homophone: whirred (accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English word, from Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurd?, from Proto-Indo-European *wr?d?h?om. Doublet of verb.

Noun

word (countable and uncountable, plural words)

1. The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)

   1. The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes
   2. The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes
      • , act 2, scene 2:

        Polonius: What do you read, my lord?

        Hamlet: Words, words, words.
   3. A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).
2. Something like such a unit of language:
   1. A sequence of letters, characters, or sounds, considered as a discrete entity, though it does not necessarily belong to a language or have a meaning
   2. (telegraphy) A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space. [from 19th c.]
   4. (computing) A fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit by a machine and which can be stored in or retrieved from a typical register (so that it has the same size as such a register). [from 20th c.]
   5. (computer science) A finite string that is not a command or operator. [from 20th or 21st c.]
   6. (group theory) A group element, expressed as a product of group elements.
3. The fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action. [from 9th c].
4. (now rare outside certain phrases) Something that someone said; a comment, utterance; speech. [from 10th c.]
   • 1611, Bible, Authorized Version, Matthew XXVI.75:

     And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
5. (obsolete outside certain phrases) A watchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words).

6. (obsolete) A proverb or motto.
8. News; tidings (used without an article). [from 10th c.]

   • Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals.

9. An order; a request or instruction; an expression of will. [from 10th c.]

10. A promise; an oath or guarantee. [from 10th c.]

    Synonym: promise

11. A brief discussion or conversation. [from 15th c.]

12. (in the plural) See words.

13. (theology, sometimes Word) Communication from God; the message of the Christian gospel; the Bible, Scripture. [from 10th c.]

    Synonyms: word of God, Bible

14. (theology, sometimes Word) Logos, Christ. [from 8th c.]
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, John I:

      And that worde was made flesshe, and dwelt amonge vs, and we sawe the glory off yt, as the glory off the only begotten sonne off the father, which worde was full of grace, and verite.

    Synonyms: God, Logos

Usage notes

In English and other languages with a tradition of space-delimited writing, it is customary to treat "word" as referring to any sequence of characters delimited by spaces. However, this is not applicable to languages such as Chinese and Japanese, which are normally written without spaces, or to languages such as Vietnamese, which are written with spaces delimiting syllables.

In computing, the size (length) of a word, while being fixed in a particular machine or processor family design, can be different in different designs, for many reasons. See Word (computer architecture) for a full explanation.

Synonyms

• vocable; see also Thesaurus:word

Derived terms

Descendants

• Chinese Pidgin English: word, ????

Translations

Verb

word (third-person singular simple present words, present participle wording, simple past and past participle worded)

1. (transitive) To say or write (something) using particular words; to phrase (something).

   Synonyms: express, phrase, put into words, state

2. (transitive, obsolete) To flatter with words, to cajole.
3. (transitive) To ply or overpower with words.
4. (transitive, rare) To conjure with a word.
   • c. 1645–1715, Robert South, Sermon on Psalm XXXIX. 9:

     Against him [...] who could word heaven and earth out of nothing, and can when he pleases word them into nothing again.
5. (intransitive, archaic) To speak, to use words; to converse, to discourse.

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

word

1. (slang, African-American Vernacular) Truth, indeed, that is the truth! The shortened form of the statement "My word is my bond."

2. (slang, emphatic, stereotypically, African-American Vernacular) An abbreviated form of word up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:word.

See also

• allomorph
• compound word
• grapheme
• idiomatic
• lexeme
• listeme
• morpheme
• orthographic
• phrase
• set phrase
• syllable
• term

Etymology 2

Variant of worth (“to become, turn into, grow, get”), from Middle English worthen, from Old English weorþan (“to turn into, become, grow”), from Proto-Germanic *werþan? (“to turn, turn into, become”). More at worth § Verb.

Verb

word

1. Alternative form of worth (“to become”).

Further reading

• word on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• drow

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch worden, from Middle Dutch werden, from Old Dutch werthan, from Proto-Germanic *werþan?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v?rt/

Verb

word (present word, present participle wordende, past participle geword)

1. to become; to get (to change one’s state)

2. Forms the present passive voice when followed by a past participle

Usage notes

• The verb has an archaic preterite werd: Die kat werd gevoer. (“The cat was fed.”) In contemporary Afrikaans the perfect is used instead: Die kat is gevoer.

Chinese Pidgin English

Alternative forms

• ???? (Chinese characters)

Etymology

From English word.

Noun

word

1. word

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??rt/
• Rhymes: -?rt

Verb

word

1. first-person singular present indicative of worden
2. imperative of worden

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wurd, weord, vord, woord, wourd, worde

Etymology

From Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurd?, from Proto-Indo-European *werd?h?om. Doublet of verbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wurd/, /w?rd/, /w??rd/

Noun

word (plural wordes or (Early ME) word)

1. A word (separable, discrete linguistic unit)

2. A statement; a linguistic unit said or written by someone:
   1. A speech; a formal statement.
   2. A byword or maxim; a short expression of truth.
   3. A promise; an oath or guarantee.
   4. A motto; a expression associated with a person or people.
   5. A piece of news (often warning or recommending)
   6. An order or directive; something necessary.
   7. A religious precept, stricture, or belief.
3. Discourse; the exchange of statements.
4. The act of speaking (especially as opposed to action)
5. The basic, non-figurative reading of something.
6. The way one speaks (especially with modifying adjective)
7. (theology) The Logos (Jesus Christ)
8. (rare) The linguistic faculty as a whole.

Related terms

• bodeword
• byword
• hereword
• mysword
• wacche word
• worden
• wordy
• wytword

Descendants

• English: word
• Scots: wird, wourd

References

• “w??rd, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 27 February 2020.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /word/, [wor?d]

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurd?.

Noun

word n (nominative plural word)

1. word
2. speech, utterance, statement
3. (grammar) verb
4. news, information, rumour
5. command, request

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Middle English: word, wurd, weord
  • Scots: word, wourd
  • English: word

Etymology 2

Unknown. Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wr?d?os (“sweetbriar”).

Noun

word ?

1. thornbush

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurd?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?rd/

Noun

word n

1. word

Declension