What is the Longest Word?

from fun with words

Do you remember – when you were a child – learning (then gleefully reciting) what youthought was the longest word in the English language? Was it ANTI DIS ESTABLISH MENT ARIAN ISM? Or the similarly long SUPER CALI FRAGI LISTIC EXPI ALI DOCIOUS?
There are longer ones...
However, there is no easy answer that we can give when our visitors ask us for the longest word in the English language. Most very long words only occur in one or two dictionaries, and often they are debatably not words at all. For example, ANTI DIS ESTABLISH MENT ARIAN ISM has possibly never really been used to mean "the belief which opposes removing the tie between church and state." Certainly 99 in 100 times it is used as an example of a long word. And who says you can't put NON– (for example) on the beginning to make it even longer?
This problem is even more evident in chemical names. Most chemicals are named using a systematic naming system which methodically describes the molecule's structure. Some molecules, such as proteins, are huge, so it is possible to come up with genuine words containing millions of letters. But of course no chemist uses these really long names in practice.
Here we look at some of the longest words in English dictionaries, and discuss whether they should be considered to be real words. Interesting long chemical termsand place names are listed separately afterwards. The red numbers indicate the length (number of letters) of the word that follows.


Longest Words

(45) PNEUMONO ULTRA MICRO SCOPIC SILICO VOLCANO CONIOSIS (also spelledPNEUMONO ULTRA MICRO SCOPIC SILICO VOLCANO KONIOSIS) = a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust.
This is the longest word in any English dictionary. However, it was coined by Everett Smith, the President of The National Puzzlers' League, in 1935 purely for the purpose of inventing a new "longest word". The Oxford English Dictionary described the word as factitious. Nevertheless it also appears in the Webster's, Random House, andChambers dictionaries.(37) HEPATICO CHOLANGIO CHOLECYST ENTERO STOMIES = a surgical creation of a connection between the gall bladder and a hepatic duct and between the intestine and the gall bladder.
This is the longest word in Gould's Medical Dictionary.
(34) SUPER CALI FRAGI LISTIC EXPI ALI DOCIOUS = song title from the Walt Disney movie Mary Poppins.
It is in the Oxford English Dictionary.


"But then one day I learned a word
That saved me achin' nose,
The biggest word you ever 'eard,
And this is 'ow it goes:
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"
(30) HIPPOPOTO MONSTRO SESQUIPED AL IAN = pertaining to a very long word.
From Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words.
(29) FLOCCI NAUCINI HILIPIL IFICATION = an estimation of something as worthless.
This is the longest word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Interestingly the most common letter in English, E, does not appear in this word at all, whilst I occurs a total of nine times. The word dates back to 1741. The 1992 Guinness Book of World Records calls flocci nauci nihili pilification the longest real word in theOxford English Dictionary, and refers to pneumono ultra micro scopic silico volcano­koniosis as the longest made-up one.
(28) ANTI DIS ESTABLISH MENT ARIAN ISM = the belief which opposes removing the tie between church and state.
Probably the most popular of the "longest words" in recent decades.
(27) HONORI FICABILI TUDINI TATIBUS = honorableness.
The word first appeared in English in 1599, and in 1721 was listed by Bailey's Dictionary as the longest word in English. It was used by Shakespeare in Love's Labor's Lost (Costard; Act V, Scene I):


"O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.
I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon."
Shakespeare does not use any other words over 17 letters in length.
(27) ELECTRO ENCEPHALO GRAPHICALLY
The longest unhyphenated word in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.), joint with ethylene diamine tetraacetate (see below).
(27) ANTI TRANSUB STAN TIA TION ALIST = one who doubts that consecrated bread and wine actually change into the body and blood of Christ.
(21) DIS PRO PORTION ABLE NESS and (21) IN COM PREHEN SIB ILITIES
These are described by the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest words in common usage.
Some say SMILES is the longest word because there is a MILE between the first and last letters!

Chemical Terms

Two chemical terms (3,641 and 1,913 letters long) have appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records. They were withdrawn because they have never been used by chemists, and there is no theoretical limit to the length of possible legitimate chemical terms. A DNA molecule could have a name of over 1,000,000,000 letters if it was written out in full.(1,185) ACETYL SERYL TYROSYL SERYL ISO LEUCYL THREONYL SERYL PROLYL SERYL GLUTAMINYL PHENYL ALANYL VALYL PHENYL ALANYL LEUCYL SERYL SERYL VALYL TRYPTOPHYL ALANYL ASPARTYL PROLYL ISOLEUCYL GLUTAMYL LEUCYL LEUCYL ASPARAGINYL VALYL CYSTEINYL THREONYL SERYL SERYL LEUCYL GLYCYL ASPARAGINYL GLUTAMINYL PHENYL ALANYL GLUTAMINYL THREONYL GLUTAMINYL GLUTAMINYL ALANYL ARGINYL THREONYL THREONYL GLUTAMINYL VALYL GLUTAMINYL GLUTAMINYL PHENYL ALANYL SERYL GLUTAMINYL VALYL TRYPTOPHYL LYSYL PROLYL PHENYL ALANYL PROLYL GLUTAMINYL SERYL THREONYL VALYL ARGINYL PHENYL ALANYL PROLYL GLYCYL ASPARTYL VALYL TYROSYL LYSYL VALYL TYROSYL ARGINYL TYROSYL ASPARAGINYL ALANYL VALYL LEUCYL ASPARTYL PROLYL LEUCYL ISOLEUCYL THREONYL ALANYL LEUCYL LEUCYL GLYCYL THREONYL PHENYL ALANYL ASPARTYL THREONYL ARGINYL ASPARAGINYL ARGINYL ISOLEUCYL ISOLEUCYL GLUTAMYL VALYL GLUTAMYL ASPARAGINYL GLUTAMINYL GLUTAMINYL SERYL PROLYL THREONYL THREONYL ALANYL GLUTAMYL THREONYL LEUCYL ASPARTYL ALANYL THREONYL ARGINYL ARGINYL VALYL ASPARTYL ASPARTYL ALANYL THREONYL VALYL ALANYL ISOLEUCYL ARGINYL SERYL ALANYL ASPARAGINYL­ISOLEUCYL ASPARAGINYL LEUCYL VALYL ASPARAGINYL GLUTAMYL LEUCYL VALYL ARGINYL GLYCYL THREONYL GLYCYL LEUCYL TYROSYL ASPARAGINYL GLUTAMINYL ASPARAGINYL THREONYL PHENYL ALANYL GLUTAMYL SERYL METHIONYL SERYL GLYCYL LEUCYL VALYL TRYPTOPHYL THREONYL SERYL ALANYL PROLYL ALANYL SERINE = Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain.
This word has appeared in the American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts and is thus considered by some to be the longest real word.
(39) TETRA METHYL DIAMINO BENZHYDRYL PHOSPHINOUS = a type of acid.
This is the longest chemical term in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.). It does not have its own entry but appears under a citation for another word.
(37) FORMALDEHYDE TETRA METHYL AMIDO FLUORIMUM
Chemical term in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.).
(37) DIMETHYL AMIDO PHENYL DIMETHYL PYRAZOLONE
Chemical term in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.).
(31) DICHLORO DIPHENYL TRICHLORO ETHANE = a pesticide used to kill lice; abbrv. DDT.
It is the longest word in the Macquarie Dictionary and is also in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.).
(29) TRINITRO PHENYL METHYL NITRAMINE = a type of explosive.
This is the longest chemical term in Webster's Dictionary (3rd Ed.).
(27) ETHYLENE DIAMINE TETRA ACETATE
The longest unhyphenated word in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.), joint with electroencephalographically (see above).
(26) ETHYLENE DIAMINE TETRA ACETIC = a type of acid; abbrv. EDTA.
This word appears in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.).

Place Names

There are many long place names around the world. Here are a few of the largest.(85) TAUMATA WHAKA TANGI HANGA KOAUAU O TAMATEA TURIPUKAKA PIKI MAUNGA HORO NUKU POKAI WHENUA KITANA TAHU
A hill in New Zealand. This Maori name was in general use, but is now generally abbreviated to Taumata. The name means: the summit of the hill, where Tamatea, who is known as the land eater, slid down, climbed up and swallowed mountains, played on his nose flute to his loved one.
(66) GORSA FAWDDACH AIDRAIGODAN HEDDO GLEDDOLON PENRHYN AREUR DRAETH CEREDIGION
A town in Wales. The name means: the Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn Road on the golden beach of Cardigan bay.
(58) LLAN FAIR PWLL GWYN GYLL GOGERY CHWYRN DROBWLL LLANTY SILIO GOGO GOCH
A town in North Wales. The name roughly translates as: St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
(41) CHAR GOGAGOG MAN CHAR GOGAGOG CHAR BUNA GUNGAMOG
Another name for Lake Webster in Massachusetts. Probably the longest name in the United States. Alternative spellings are:
(44) CHAR GOGGAGOGG MAN CHAUG GAGOGG CHAU BUNA GUNGAMOGG,
(45) CHAR GOGGAGOGG MAN CHAUG GAGOGG CHAU BUNA GUNGAMAUGG,
(44) CHAR GOGGAGOGG MAN CHAUG GAGOGG CHA BUNA GUNGAMAUGG.
(23) NUNATH LOOGAGA MIUT BINGOI
The Eskimo name for some dunes in Alaska, according to The Book of Names by J. N. Hook.

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