Palabra
From Latin parabola (comparison), from paraballo (I compare, I set alongside)
A palabra (word) is a sound, a letter, or a combination of them that expresses an idea. Words are symbols. They are used to communicate ideas or thoughts — the word is not the thing itself, but a symbol that represents the thing you are talking about.
When written or spoken, words have a space on either side (at the beginning and at the end). There are short words like sol ("sun") and long ones like quincuagésimo ("fiftieth" — the one that takes place number 50 in a series).
Words can represent a thing, person, or object, an action, an idea, or they can show the relationship between other words inside a sentence. Later, in the Parts of Speech section, you will study the different classes of words Spanish has. For example, the sentence todos los niños eran felices jugando en el parque ("all the children were happy playing in the park") has 9 words.
Note
In Spanish a palabra is also called vocablo, voz, or término — all of which mean "word" or "term".