!word

ok so i have this bit of code

while (!word.equals("*"))

and not sure what the ! in front of the word is. i know != is not equal to so this is a tad confusing to me. word has previously been declared as:

string word = "";

I'm meant to figure out what the issue with the rest of the code is so i just need to understand this phrase.

You can find an explanation here: Assignment, Arithmetic, and Unary Operators (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Language Basics)

See Summary of Operators (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Language Basics)
To quote: "inverts the value of a boolean"
Edit: Too slow again