What's the difference between a word and byte?

Question

I\'ve done some research. A byte is 8 bits and a word is the smallest unit that can be addressed on memory. The exact length of a word varies. What I don\'t understand is wh

Answer 1

In fact, in common usage, word has become synonymous with 16 bits, much like byte has with 8 bits. Can get a little confusing since the "word size" on a 32-bit CPU is 32-bits, but when talking about a word of data, one would mean 16-bits. Microcontrollers with a 32-bit word size have taken to calling their instructions "longs" (supposedly to try and avoid the word/doubleword confusion).