different between word vs whisper

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English whisperen, from Old English hwisprian (“to mutter, murmur, whisper”), fromProto-Germanic *hwispr?n? (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”), from Proto-Indo-European *?weys-, *?wey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Dutch wisperen (“to whisper”), German Low German wispeln (“to whisper”), German wispern (“to mumble, whisper”). Related also to Danish hviske (“to whisper”), Swedish viska (“to whisper”), Norwegian hviske (“to whisper”), Icelandic hvískra and hvísla (“to whisper”). More at English whistle.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?(h)w?sp?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?(h)w?sp?/
• Rhymes: -?sp?(?)

Noun

whisper (plural whispers)

1. The act of speaking in a quiet voice, especially, without vibration of the vocal cords.

   I spoke in a near whisper

   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

     "Now, look here, Jim Hawkins," he said, in a steady whisper, that was no more than audible.
2. (usually in the plural) A rumor.

   There are whispers of rebellion all around.

3. (figuratively) A faint trace or hint (of something).

   The soup had just a whisper of basil.

4. A low rustling sound, like that of the wind in leaves.
5. (Internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room.
   • 2002, Ralph Schroeder, The Social Life of Avatars (page 218)

     The invisibility of private interactions in the form of whispers resolved an ethical concern in the research but reduced our ability to gauge the volume of interaction […]

   • 2004, Caroline A. Haythornthwaite, Michelle M. Kazmer, Learning, Culture and Community in Online Education (page 179)

     Anyone logged in to the chat room can click on an individual name, highlighting it, and send a message — a whisper — that will be seen only by the selected person.

Derived terms

• stage whisper
• whisper campaign
• whisperous
• whispersome
• whispery

Translations

Verb

whisper (third-person singular simple present whispers, present participle whispering, simple past and past participle whispered)

1. (intransitive) To speak softly, or under the breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration in the larynx which gives sonorous, or vocal, sound.
2. (transitive) To mention privately and confidentially, or in a whisper.
   • 1692, Richard Bentley, A Confutation of Atheism

     They might buzz and whisper it one to another.

3. (intransitive) To make a low, sibilant sound.

   • the hollow, whispering breeze

4. (intransitive) To speak with suspicion or timorous caution; to converse in whispers, as in secret plotting.

   • All that hate me whisper together against me.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To address in a whisper, or low voice.

   • where gentlest breezes whisper souls distressed

6. (transitive, obsolete) To prompt secretly or cautiously; to inform privately.

Derived terms

• whisperer

Translations