Definitions
The term word is somewhat unclear, as it has many possible definitions. It is universally agreed that a word may contain one or more morphemes, but beyond that there is some disagreement. A linguistic "word" is not to be confused with a "word" in common parlance, which in English is usually used to denote a unit of writing with spaces on either side. This definition, clearly, is rather arbitrary, and it completely breaks down in some languages (particularly those that are not written, or that can be written in different ways, or that don't use spaces). Therefore, linguists have devised their own definitions, which may strike a typical English speaker as odd.
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