1. In general, a word is a single element of speech that is typically separated by spaces and helps form a sentence. For example, this sentence contains seven words. The English language contains several hundred thousand different words and Computer Hope lists over 14,000 computer related words in its computer dictionary. 2. In computing, a word is a single unit of measurement that is assumed to be a 16-bits in length value. However, it can be any set value, common values included: 16, 18, 24, 32, 36, 40, 48, and 64. Microsoft Word3. Sometimes called Winword, Word, Microsoft WordPad, or MS Word, Microsoft Word is a word processor that was originally developed by Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie, first released in 1983. It is more appropriate to refer to each of these programs using their full names. However, most people automatically assume that "Word" is Microsoft Word. Why use a word processor? Microsoft Word is a word processor that allows you to create a pr...