Word

A few branching thoughts

A word is a unit of meaning.

This does not mean, however, that the amount of meaning in any given word is the same for everyone. For our most commonly used words, most of the meaning is held in common—enough that communication is possible. The exact edges of those meanings, though, are unique in every case.

A word’s meaning is made up of what you learn its formal definition to be and how you hear it used, how you use it, the context with which you associate it, the book in which you first read it, the song in which you heard it unexpectedly rhymed, the synonyms you know, the misuses you’ve heard, etc.

Physically, a word is a combination of sounds. A word can carry rhythm (cat-ast-roph-e) or sharpness (snip).

Words shape reality. Have a word for something, and you can begin to see it from different angles and construct a 3D representation of the thing. Have a single word for blue, and your eyes won’t learn to differentiate navy from cerulean.

Words are related differently in different languages. English is a garden of multicolored plots of both domestic and foreign varietals, with some creepers finding their way between the rows. Arabic is a forest of sprawling, branching trees from singular roots.