How Many Bytes Is a Word?

A byte is eight bits, a word is 2 bytes (16 bits), a doubleword is 4 bytes (32 bits), and a quadword is 8 bytes (64 bits).

Is a word always 32 bits?

There is no definitive answer. Traditionally the term "word" refers to the size of the processor's registers and main data path. By that definition a "word" would be 32 bit on your 32-bit system and 64-bit on your 64-bit system.

Why is 16 bits a word?

In DOS and Windows programming, 16 bits is a "WORD", 32 bits is a "DWORD" (double word), and 64 bits is a "QWORD"; but in other contexts "word" means the machine's natural binary processing size, which ranges from 32 to 64 bits nowadays. "word" should now be considered ambiguous.