Difference between a Byte, Word, Long and a Long Word?

Question

I'm aware that a Byte is 8 bits, but what do the others represent? I'm taking an assembly course which uses a Motorola 68k Architecture, and I'm confused on the vocabulary present.

Answer 1

As mentioned on the first page of the operator's manual for the 68k Architecture, in your case a word is 16 bits and a long word is 32 bits.

In an assembly language, a word is the CPU's natural working size. Each instruction, as well as addresses in memory, tend to be one word in length. Whereas a byte is always 8 bits, the size of a word depends on the architecture you're working in.