The world is a proper noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an anthropocentric or human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general.'This is the excellent foppery of the world...' -- Shakespeare, King Lear, I.ii There were approximately 6.5 billion (or 6500 million) people living on the Earth as of February 2006. Especially in a metaphysical context, World may refer to everything that constitutes reality and the Universe: see World . Etymology In English, world may be parsed as rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, "man", and eld, "age"; thus, its etymology may be semantically rendered as "age or life of man". [LINK: http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE588.html] American Heritage Dictionar