Word
A word is most simply defined as an element that is listed in the dictionary (= lexeme) or that occurs between two spaces in the spelling or the linguist's description (= word-form).
These definitions are of course not satisfactory, because they do not say why linguists enter elements into a dictionary or write them between two spaces.
Subtypes
- lexeme (= a dictionary word)
- word-form, grammatical word (= a text word, occurring between two spaces)