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In computer science, a “word” is a fundamental unit of data that a particular processor is designed to handle at a time. It represents a fixed-size group of bits (binary digits) that the processor can fetch from memory or send to memory in a single operation. The word size is a critical attribute of a processor’s architecture, influencing its performance and capabilities. Common word sizes include 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit. A larger word size typically allows the processor to access more memory and process data more efficiently, as it can handle larger chunks of information in parallel. The word size also affects the range of values that the processor can directly represent and manipulate. For example, a 32-bit word can directly represent integers in the range of -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647, while a 64-bit word can represent a much larger range. The concept of a word is important in understanding memory addressing, data alignment, and the overall architecture of a computer system.