<body> (Document Body)

This element specifies the contents of the body of the document - the main document editing surface.

The document body contains what is referred to as block-level markup - markup which can exist as a sibling element to paragraphs in a WordprocessingML document.

example: 
<w:document>
  <w:body>
    <w:p/>
  </w:body>
</w:document>

The fact that the paragraph is inside the <body> element makes it part of the main document story. ]

Parent Elements

<document> (§2.2.3)

Child Elements

Subclause

<altChunk> (Anchor for Imported External Content)

§2.17.3.1

<bookmarkEnd> (Bookmark End)

§2.13.6.1

<bookmarkStart> (Bookmark Start)

§2.13.6.2

<commentRangeEnd> (Comment Anchor Range End)

§2.13.4.3

<commentRangeStart> (Comment Anchor Range Start)

§2.13.4.4

<customXml> (Block-Level Custom XML Element)

§2.5.1.6

<customXmlDelRangeEnd> (Custom XML Markup Deletion End)

§2.13.5.4

<customXmlDelRangeStart> (Custom XML Markup Deletion Start)

§2.13.5.5

<customXmlInsRangeEnd> (Custom XML Markup Insertion End)

§2.13.5.6

<customXmlInsRangeStart> (Custom XML Markup Insertion Start)

§2.13.5.7

<customXmlMoveFromRangeEnd> (Custom XML Markup Move Source End)

§2.13.5.8

<customXmlMoveFromRangeStart> (Custom XML Markup Move Source Start)

§2.13.5.9

<customXmlMoveToRangeEnd> (Custom XML Markup Move Destination Location End)

§2.13.5.10

<customXmlMoveToRangeStart> (Custom XML Markup Move Destination Location Start)

§2.13.5.11

<del> (Deleted Run Content)

§2.13.5.12

<ins> (Inserted Run Content)

§2.13.5.20

<moveFrom> (Move Source Run Content)

§2.13.5.21

<moveFromRangeEnd> (Move Source Location Container - End)

§2.13.5.23

<moveFromRangeStart> (Move Source Location Container - Start)

§2.13.5.24

<moveTo> (Move Destination Run Content)

§2.13.5.26

<moveToRangeEnd> (Move Destination Location Container - End)

§2.13.5.27

<moveToRangeStart> (Move Destination Location Container - Start)

§2.13.5.28

<oMath> (Office Math)

§7.1.2.77

<oMathPara> (Math Paragraph)

§7.1.2.78

<p> (Paragraph)

§2.3.1.22

<permEnd> (Range Permission End)

§2.13.7.1

<permStart> (Range Permission Start)

§2.13.7.2

<proofErr> (Proofing Error Anchor)

§2.13.8.1

<sdt> (Block-Level Structured Document Tag)

§2.5.2.30

<sectPr> (Document Final Section Properties)

§2.6.18

<tbl> (Table)

§2.4.36

The following XML Schema fragment defines the contents of this element:

<complexType name="CT_Body">
	<sequence>
	<group ref="EG_BlockLevelElts" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
	<element name="sectPr" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" type="CT_SectPr"/>
	</sequence>
</complexType>