book

The word “book” means a set of printed or written pages bound together, meant to be read. In plain terms, a bound set of written pages to read, or, as a verb, to reserve something in advance.

“Book” is pronounced buuk (/bʊk/ in IPA).

Here is “book” used in a sentence: “She finished the whole book in a single weekend.”

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

The word “book” comes from Old English. From Old English boc, ultimately from Proto-Germanic bōks, thought to be related to "beech" — early runic writing may have been carved onto beechwood tablets.

“Book” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Book” has 6 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a set of printed or written pages bound together, meant to be read.

A book is the physical or digital object: pages bound together to be read. A novel is a type of content, namely a long work of fiction. Every printed novel is a book, but many books are not novels, since they may be biographies, cookbooks, textbooks, or poetry collections.

The broadest split is fiction, such as novels and short stories, versus non-fiction, such as biography, history, and reference. Books are also grouped by format, including hardback, paperback, audiobook, and ebook, and by audience, such as children's books, textbooks, and academic works.

The reading content can be identical; the difference is the medium. A traditional book is a physical object of printed, bound pages. An ebook is a digital file read on a screen, such as a phone, tablet, or e-reader. An ebook needs no paper and can be carried by the thousand on one device.

A printed novel on a shelf is the classic example, but so are a hardback dictionary, a school textbook, a children's picture book, or a cookbook. Anything made of written or printed pages bound together and meant to be read counts, whatever its subject or size.