text

The word “text” means written words, especially the main body of a document, book, or message. In plain terms, written words in general, or specifically a short message sent by phone.

“Text” is pronounced tehkst (/tɛkst/ in IPA).

Here is “text” used in a sentence: “She highlighted the key passages of text in the report.”

Depending on how it is used, “text” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “text” comes from Latin. From Latin textus, "the style or texture of a piece of writing", literally "something woven", from texere, "to weave" — the same root gives us "texture".

“Text” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

“Text” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: written words, especially the main body of a document, book, or message.

Text is the written words themselves — the language content. A document is the whole item that holds that text, along with its formatting, images, and layout. You can copy the text out of a document and leave its design behind. In short, text is the content; the document is the container.

Text is the actual written words and their meaning. Font is the visual style in which those words appear — the shape, size, and design of the letters. The same text can be displayed in countless different fonts without changing a single word of what it says.

In writing, common categories include narrative (telling a story), descriptive, expository (explaining), persuasive, and instructional texts. In digital and everyday use, 'a text' also means a short electronic message sent between phones, while 'text' broadly means any body of written material.

In a book, the text is the main written content — the author's words — as distinct from the illustrations, footnotes, index, cover, or blank pages. Scholars also use 'the text' to mean the exact, authoritative wording of a work as it is studied and quoted.