The long word in german

The classic longest German word is Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän, clocking in with 42 letters. In English, it becomes four words: «Danube steamship company captain.» However, it’s not the only super long word in the German language and, technically, it’s not even the longest.

German Spelling

Most languages, including English, string smaller words together to form longer ones, but the Germans take this practice to new extremes. As Mark Twain said, «Some German words are so long that they have a perspective.»

But is there really such a thing as the longest German word… das längste deutsche Wort? Some of the suggested «longest» words are artificial creations. They are never used in daily spoken or written German, which is why we’ll look at some words that far surpass our 42-letter title winner mentioned above. 

For all practical purposes, this longest-word contest is really just a game. It’s more fun than practical and German just happens to offer us some really long words. Even a German or English Scrabble board only has room for 15 letters, so you won’t find much use for these. Yet, if you’d like to play the longest-word game, here are a few selected items to consider.

The 6 Longest German Words (Lange Deutsche Wörter)

These words are listed in alphabetical order, with their gender and letter count.

Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung
(die, 41 letters)

It’s a mesmerizing word that is rather difficult to read. This lengthy one refers to a «regulation requiring a prescription for an anesthetic.»

Bezirksschornsteinfegermeister
(der, 30 letters)

This word may be short in comparison to those below, but it is a real word that you might be able to use someday, but even that’s not likely. Roughly, it means a «head district chimney sweep.»

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
(one word, no hyphen) (die, 79 letters, 80 with the new German spelling that adds one more ‘f’ in …dampfschifffahrts…)

Even the definition is a mouthful: «association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services» (the name of a pre-war club in Vienna). This word is not really useful; it’s more of a desperate attempt to lengthen the word below.

Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän
(der, 42 letters)

As mentioned, in classic German this is considered the longest word. Its meaning of «Danube steamship company captain» makes it unusable for the majority of us, though.

Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften
(die, plur., 39 letters)

This is one you might actually be able to pronounce if you take it one syllable at a time. It means, «legal protection insurance companies.» According to Guinness, this was the longest German dictionary word in everyday usage. However, the word below is a longer legitimate and official «longest word»—in semi-everyday usage, anyway.

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
(das, 63 letters)

This hyper word references a «beef labeling regulation and delegation of supervision law.» This was a 1999 German Word of the Year, and it also won a special award as the longest German word for that year. It refers to a «law for regulating the labeling of beef»—all in one word, which is why it is so long. German also likes abbreviations, and this word has one: ReÜAÜG.

German Numbers (Zahlen)

There is another reason why there really isn’t a single longest German word. German numbers, long or short, are written as one word. For example, to say or write the number 7,254 (which is not really a very long number), the German is siebentausendzweihundertvierundfünfzig.

That is a single word of 38 letters, so you could imagine what larger and more complex numbers may look like. For this reason, it’s not difficult at all to make a number-based word that far exceeds any of the other words we’ve discussed.

Longest English Words

For comparison sake, what are the longest words in English? Contrary to popular belief, the record holder is not «supercalifragilisticexpialidocious» (an invented word made famous in the movie «Mary Poppins»). Just as in German, there is disagreement about which word is actually the longest. There’s little argument, however, that English can’t keep pace with German in this department.

The English language’s two contenders are:

Antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters): This is a legitimate dictionary word from the 19th century meaning «opposition to the separation of church and state.»

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis (45 letters): The literal meaning of this term is «lung disease caused by breathing in silica dust.» Linguists claim this is an artificial word and that it does not deserve true «longest word» billing.

Likewise, there are many technical and medical terms in English that qualify as long words. However, they are usually excluded from consideration for the longest word game.

The German language is currently the 15th most spoken language in the world. The number of first language speakers according to the 21st edition of Ethnologue is 76 million. Speakers of German are found in 28 countries, located in 6 continents. German has official language status in Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria. You’ll also find German speakers in Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil, Namibia, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, South Africa and Australia.

Being part of the Indo European language family, the English language and the German language share around 60% of their lexicon. Like most languages, the German language has its own set of quirks and unique features, which at times add to the confusion of German language learners.

1. Quirky German language

• German is a language that is known for being logical. However, the language also has many characteristics that make it confusing as well as inspiring. Here are some of these interesting characteristics.
• Among the languages in Europe, German is the most spoken. It still ranks first among the most common European languages, besting English, Spanish, French and Italian. German is spoken as a first language by 16% of the population in Europe.
• In the past, German and English have three genders, but with the changes in English grammar, it uses masculine and feminine and use a gender-neutral nouns and pronouns for persons of undetermined gender. German on the other hand retained the old rule, so it has masculine, feminine and neuter genders.
• Telling time in German is a bit tricky for language learners. When a German tells you that it’s halb drei or half-three, this does not mean that it is half past the hour of two. Rather, this means that it is 30 minutes to three.
• Germans are also known for their propensity in creating compound words – words that contain several consonants. Here are a few examples:
  1. der Kühlschrank. The literal meaning of this is cool cupboard, but technically, this refers to a refrigerator.
  2. das Weichei. This is not a very complimentary word. Literally, it’s translated as soft egg, but wimp is its real meaning.
  3. der Tagedieb. You might have guessed correctly. This translates to day thief, but it does not really mean that someone is stealing the day. What it actually means is someone who dawdles, someone who is a layabout or somebody who wastes the day doing nothing.
  4. der Handschuh.This is somewhat understandable, isn’t it. If you guessed that it meant the hand shoe, you got it right! But your hands do not wear shoes. Instead you wear gloves, which is the correct translation of the term.
  5. das Fingerspitzengefühl. This is definitely not the last in the list of German compound word, but this one is quite meaningful. Its literal meaning isthe fingertip feeling. The accurate translation of this phrase is intuitive instinct or flair. It also means tactfulness.
• Depending on which study results you are looking at, German can be the third or the seventh most studied language in the world. It is safe to say that it belongs to the world’s top 10 most taught languages.
• The Koreans may have invented the movable printing type but Germany introduced mechanical printing to the world. It printed the first book in movable metal type – the Gutenberg Bible. Contrary to what some people believe, the Gutenberg Bible is not German but rather written in Latin.
• The German alphabet has 26 letters just like the English language, but it has three umlauted (letters with two dots on top) letters, ä, ö, ü as well as a ligature, ß that is called ein scharfes (sharp S or double S). It is a peculiar letter. If you use double S for ‘Masse‘ when you do not have a German keyboard, it translates to mass. But if you write Maße, it refers to dimensions.

Despite the confusion that is natural to the German language, do not let this deter you from learning German.

Because Germans love using compound words, it is easy for them to construct very long words by combining these compound texts, resulting in words that could be about 30 to over 60 letters in length. At the same time, expect to see lengthy meanings for these words.

2. Longest words in German

Creating compound words is not exclusive to the German language. There are several more languages where you’ll encounter compound words, although German is legendary for having very long words. Even Mark Twain said that due to their length, some of the German words have their own perspective.

1- Siebenhundertsiebenundsiebzigtausendsiebenhundertsiebenundsiebzig

This word contains 65 letters and looks like you’ll run out of breath before you finish saying it. If you look carefully, you might have a clue as to what it actually is. That’s right; it’s about numbers and number 7 to be precise. Because all numbers can be expressed in long words in German, this one is the compound word for seven hundred seventy-seven thousand, seven hundred seventy-seven or 777,777.

2- Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

This 63-letter term refers to the law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling. It is officially the longest word that appears in government documents. The law which was passed in 1999 was meant to protect beef consumers from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. However, the law has been dropped as the EU declared that testing is not needed anymore. Hence the word will now be a part of history.

3- Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften

There are only 39 letters in Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften, which translates to insurance companies providing legal protection. It’s included here because it holds a Guinness Book of World Records recognition as German’s longest word that is commonly used.

4- Kaftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung

At 36 letters, it is one of the shortest compound words in German. Kaftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung equates to motor vehicle liability insurance. It is the longest word that is included in the Duden German dictionary.

5- Sozialversicherungsfachangestelltenauszubildender

This 49-letter word is a modern term. It refers to a trainee assistant social insurance broker.
Some of these are not even the longest words Germans ever came up with, but they are quite distinct. Several more are truly unique and tongue twisting.

For example, Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung (regulation for requiring a prescription for an anesthetic), Massenkommunikationsdienstleistungsunternehmen (companies providing mass communications services) and Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit (food intolerance).

3. Keep Learning German!

Don’t stop learning a new language. German is similar to English so in time you’ll be able to pick up the pace as you learn to recognize the German words and their English equivalent. Find the most suitable online lessons on the German language to support your formal language learning. If you need language translation services, find the best translation company that will meet your requirements.

Author’s bio:
Sean Patrick Hopwood is a polyglot whose interests include technology, the Internet, education, and positive thinking. He is the President and CEO of Day Translations, Inc., a company serving international clients with a wide range of language services including translating, interpreting and website and app localization.

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Before you start asking yourself
is German easy to learn, first of all, we want to congratulate you.

German is such an amazing and unique language, perhaps not among the easiest languages to learn, but well, which one is easy, right?

One thing, however, that any German learner fears and something the language is famous for are (too) long German words.

When it comes to the longest words, German is probably the winner.

And when we add the specific pronunciation, the situation becomes almost impossible for German students.

Or perhaps not?

Because we understand your fears and struggles, in the following lines, we’ve collected the 30 long German words so that you can learn their meanings, when to use them, and, more importantly, how to pronounce them.

Actually, it’s better to ask for help in pronunciation from
German tutors. They are all native speakers, and we’re sure that they will be more helpful. Besides, you two can practice pronouncing them correctly until you master them.

But now, let’s dive into the world of long German words.

Why Are German Phrases So Long?

Thanks to the
determinative compounds, in German, ling words are made of smaller ones.

At first sight, they seem really hard but when you get into the whole grammar thing, you can see that besides the logic that follows these words, they aren’t that complex.

For example, in English, you also have some determinative compounds, such as ‘hairdresser – a dresser of hair’ or ‘notebook – a book for notes.’

Like in English, in German too, the first word gives you more information on the second. More precisely, the first word determines the second. This is exactly how long German words are built.

In German, words like these consist mainly of two to three words.

However, in law and administration, people like to make even more compound words so it seems like they want to compete to see who will make the longest word.

19 Long German Words to Help You Master Your German Pronunciation

• Arbeiterunfallversicherungsgesetz

This 31-letter word is actually one of
the German tongue twisters, ideal for practicing pronunciation. In English, it can be translated as the ‘Worker Accident Insurance Act.’

• Backpfeifengesicht

Even though to you it is a pretty long word, in German, with ‘only’ 18 letters, it is actually one of the shorter ones. This word can be translated as ‘a face in need of a fist.’

• Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung

Now, this is something really Germanic. Will you count the letters or should we tell you? Perhaps to save your time so that you can focus on other things, the word has 40 letters and can be translated as ‘Narcotics Prescription Ordinance.’

• Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän

With 41 letters, this word’s meaning is ‘Danube steamship company captain.’ Can you pronounce it quickly? 

• Freundschaftsbeziehungen

A 24-letter word now seems like a piece of cake, doesn’t it?

Besides, it isn’t so challenging to pronounce it? Or perhaps it is?

It means ‘the bond of friendship’ which you can practice pronouncing with your
German tutor.

• Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung

No, this isn’t a sentence, it is a single word! It means Real Estate Movement Permit Transfer of Responsibility Ordinance, and with 63 letters, it is one of the longest German words ever.

• Innerer Schweinehund

The literal translation of this word can be ‘inner pig dog’ but you can use it in contexts when you want to say ‘inner beast.’ In some situations, depending on the context, of course, it can also be translated as ‘the devil inside you.’

• Käsesalamipizzaabhängigkeit

Do you like pizza? Of course, you do! Who doesn’t?

That yummy slice of cheese, pepperoni, ketchup, and co. altogether can make you addicted to it. Or at least in German, it is possible, especially with the ‘cheese and pepperoni pizza addiction word.’

• Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung

In case you are in Germany and you need insurance, ‘motor vehicle liability insurance is exactly what you need to know. Correct pronunciation of this 36-letter word is also necessary.

• Lebensabschnittpartner

Who says that German isn’t the language of love? Even though it may seem a little harsh, there are many romantic
German idioms about love.

Here’s one, for example, with 22 letters in the meaning ‘the person you are with today.’

• Lebensversicherungsgesellschaft

One more insurance!

You might think, why on Earth insurance have so long words?

We don’t know exactly but we do know that in case you need life insurance, you have to memorize this 31-letter word. It can be translated as ‘life insurance company.’

• Massenkommunikationsdienstleistungsunternehmen

You’ve surely used long German words but somehow you always get more and more surprised with how long they can actually be. The translation of the ‘mass communication service company’ consists of 46 letters, which can give you a pretty bad headache while you are trying to pronounce it, but it can be fun when you learn it to tease other people a bit.

• Mullautohintendraufsteher

It is likely that in everyday conversation you won’t often use ‘garbage collector at the back of the truck’ but the word can be great practice to improve your pronunciation.

• Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit

The German word ‘Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit’ can be translated as ‘food intolerance.’ In everyday conversations, this topic became popular, so not only will you improve your German pronunciation but you will also use the word often.

• Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften

Once again, it is about insurance and once again, the word is among the longest ones. With 39 letters, ‘insurance companies providing legal protection’ isn’t something you will use every day, but you will use it now until you master your pronunciation.

• Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

No, this is not a joke. It is a real word with 63 letters.

In case you need the phrase ‘Beef Labeling Supervision Task Transfer Act,’ you’d better start practicing to pronounce this word.

• Steuervergünstigungsabbaugesetz

We all know that law-related words and phrases can be complex in any language. So, in German, this comes like an everyday word. With 31 letters, this word has the meaning of ‘Tax Preference Relief Act.’

• Telekommunikationsdienstleistungsunternehmen 

Companies really have long names, but when it comes to a classic ‘telecommunication service company,’ even though it is pretty long, you should admit that the pronunciation isn’t that hard as with some other words.

• Unabhängigkeitserklärungen

‘Independence Day in English is the whole phrase! In German, on the other hand, it is a 28-letter word. Anyway, no matter how challenging it can be for the pronunciation, it is always good to know this word.

Final Thoughts

These are some of the most creative, some of them even useful in everyday conversations, long German words.

Feel free to explore more of them so that you can practice your pronunciation.

True that at first it can be intimidating, but once you master the pronunciation not only your
German tutor will be proud of you but you will also have a smile on your face and feel true pride.

I recently posted about German compound nouns and how they work. German is known for its inordinately long words and I started to wonder: Which words are considered the longest words in German? So I checked the German word bible, a.k.a. the Duden dictionary. The longest word — Kraftzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung — comes in at 36 letters. Here are the top 10 longest words listed in the dictionary, longest first. (If you want to know what they mean, click on the text of each word and an English definition will appear.)

1. Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung automobile liability insurance

2. Donau-Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft Danube (River) Steamship Company

3. Rhein-Main-Donau-Großschifffahrtsweg Rhine-Main-Danube shipping lane

4. Arbeiterunfallversicherungsgesetz Worker’s Compensation Act

5. Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz Federal Education and Training Assistance Act

6. Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung road traffic licensing regulations

7. Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities Act

8. Steuervergünstigungsabbaugesetz Tax Benefits Reduction Act

9. Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit food intolerance

10. Lebensversicherungsgesellschaft life insurance company

However, these are certainly not the longest words in German. If you go searching for long words, you will find even longer ones. Schauspielerbetreuungsflugbuchungsstatisterieleitungsgastspielorganisationsspezialist comes in at 85 letters. Neunmilliardeneinhundertzweiundneunzigmillionensechshunderteinunddreißigtausendsiebenhundertsiebzigfache is 104 letters long. Duden does not include these words in its dictionary because they generally appear only once in the whole collection of German language texts that Duden examines. In fact, there is no limit on the length of compounds in German and the language allows for users to make their own compounds when a sought-after word doesn’t exist.

If we examine Duden’s text corpus of German and pinpoint only the words that appear at least four times in documented sources, these turn up as the longest words used in real German contexts. As above, the majority of words appear in the contexts of legal- and adminstrative-speak or are scientific terms.

1. Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung regulation on the delegation of authority regarding land conveyance permissions

2. Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz law about the delegation of duties for the supervision of beef labeling

3. Verkehrsinfrastrukturfinanzierungsgesellschaft transport infrastructure finance company

4. Gleichgewichtsdichtegradientenzentrifugation equilibrium density gradient centrifugation

5. Elektrizitätswirtschaftsorganisationsgesetz Electricity Industy Organization Act

6. Verkehrswegeplanungsbeschleunigungsgesetz Transport Infrastructure Planning Acceleration Act

7. Hochleistungsflüssigkeitschromatographie high performance liquid chromatography

8. Restriktionsfragmentlängenpolymorphismus restriction fragment length polymorphism

9. Telekommunikationsüberwachungsverordnung telecommunications monitoring regulations

10. Unternehmenssteuerfortentwicklungsgesetz law further amending business taxes

Sources consulted: duden.de