The longest word in the world and what does it mean

The longest word in any given language depends on the word formation rules of each specific language, and on the types of words allowed for consideration.

Agglutinative languages allow for the creation of long words via compounding. Words consisting of hundreds, or even thousands of characters have been coined. Even non-agglutinative languages may allow word formation of theoretically limitless length in certain contexts. An example common to many languages is the term for a very remote ancestor, «great-great-…..-grandfather», where the prefix «great-» may be repeated any number of times. The examples of «longest words» within the «Agglutinative languages» section may be nowhere near close to the longest possible word in said language, but is instead a popular example of a text-heavy word.

Systematic names of chemical compounds can run to hundreds of thousands of characters in length. The rules of creation of such names are commonly defined by international bodies, therefore they formally belong to many languages. The longest recognized systematic name is for the protein titin, at 189,819 letters.^[1] While lexicographers regard generic names of chemical compounds as verbal formulae rather than words,^[2] for its sheer length the systematic name for titin is often included in longest-word lists.

Longest word candidates may be judged by their acceptance in major dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary or in record-keeping publications like Guinness World Records, and by the frequency of their use in ordinary language.

Agglutinative languages[edit]

Basque[edit]

The longest Basque toponym is Azpilicuetagaraicosaroyarenberecolarrea (40) which means «The lower field of the sheepfold (located in) the hight of Azpilicueta».^[3]

Esperanto[edit]

Since Esperanto allows word compounding, there are no limits on how long a word can theoretically become. An example is the 39-letter oranĝ-kanton-pafil-limig-aktivul-malamanto, meaning «Orange County gun control activist hater». Such clusters are not considered good style (the 8-word alternative oranĝkantona malamanto de aktivuloj por limigo de pafiloj is more standard), but they are permissible under the rules of Esperanto grammar.^[4] Hyphens are optional in Esperanto compounds,^[5] so oranĝkantonpafillimigaktivulmalamanto is also technically a valid spelling.

The longest Esperanto roots officially recognized by the Akademio de Esperanto are 13 letters long, shown here with the added substantive «-o» ending:

• administracio (administration),
• aŭtobiografio (autobiography),
• diskriminacio (discrimination),
• konservatorio (conservatory),
• paleontologio (palaeontology),
• paralelogramo (parallelogram), and
• trigonometrio (trigonometry).^[6]

The longest word found in the dictionary Plena Ilustrita Vortaro as of its 2020 edition is the 24-letter proper noun Meklenburgio-Antaŭpomerio (the German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), followed by the 21-letter word proviantadministracio (rations administration).

As of March 2022 the longest word found in the Tekstaro de Esperanto text corpus is the 66-letter word unue-volapukista-poste-esperantista-poste-idista-poste-denove-esperantista, meaning «first-volapukist-then-esperantist-then-idist-then-again-esperantist», which was used in a review published in Monato in 1997 to describe František Lorenz.^[7] However, this word does not follow normal Esperanto word formation rules. Other long words found in Tekstaro de Esperanto that do follow regular word formation include:

• sescent-kvindek-mil-kvadratkilometra (consisting of 650 000 square kilometers), 33 letters, used in an Esperanto version of an 2011 article by Marc Lavergne in Le Monde diplomatique,
• tragedio-komedio-historio-pastoraloj (tragical-comical-historical-pastorals), 33 letters, used in L. L. Zamenhof’s translation of Hamlet,
• Nord-Atlantik-Traktad-Organizo (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), 27 letters, more commonly translated with two words: Nord-Atlantika Traktat-Organiz(aĵ)o.

Estonian[edit]

• Sünnipäevanädalalõpupeopärastlõunaväsimatus meaning «untiredness of a birthday week graduation party» which is 46 letters.^{[citation needed]}
• 31 lettered word of uusaastaöövastuvõtuhommikuidüll meaning «morning idyll after the new year».^[8]
• There is also the 25 letter long word of põllumajandusministeerium which is «Ministry of Agriculture».^{[citation needed]}
• The word kuulilennuteetunneliluuk meaning «the hatch a bullet flies out of when exiting a tunnel» is 24 letters long and a palindrome. It could be one of the longest palindromes.^{[citation needed]}

Finnish[edit]

Examples of long words that have been in everyday use in the Finnish language are kolmivaihekilowattituntimittari which means «three-phase kilowatt hour meter» (31 letters), liikekannallepanotarkastuskierros («mobilization inspection round», 33 letters),^[9] peruspalveluliikelaitoskuntayhtymä («a public utility of a municipal federation for provision of basic services», 34 letters),^[10] and lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas «airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student» (61 letters), an actual military term, although one which has been deprecated. The longest military term in current use is vastatykistömaalinosoitustutkakalustojärjestelmäinsinöörierikoisupseeri «counter-artillery targeting radar systems engineer specialist officer» with 71 characters, with 2 more if grammatically incorrect extra hyphens added for readability are counted.^{[citation needed]} If conjugated forms are allowed, even longer real words can be made. Allowing derivatives and clitics allows the already lengthy word to grow even longer, although the usability of the word starts to degrade. Because Finnish uses free forming of composite words, new words can even be formed during a conversation. One can add nouns after each other without breaking grammar rules.

If one allows artificial constructs as well as using clitics and conjugated forms, one can create even longer words: such as kumarreksituteskenteleentuvaisehkollaismaisekkuudellisennesk-
enteluttelemattomammuuksissansakaankopahan (102 letters), which was created by Artturi Kannisto.^[11]

The longest non-compound (a single stem with prefixes and suffixes) Finnish word recognised by the Guinness Book of Records is epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkäänköhänkään (see also Agglutination#Extremes), based on the stem järki (reason, sanity), and it means: «I wonder if – even with his/her quality of not having been made unsystematized».

Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä and a defunct bar named after it, Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsi-baari, are the longest place names in use.

Hungarian[edit]

Eltöredezettségmentesítőtleníttethetetlenségtelenítőtlenkedhetnétek, with 67 letters is the longest word in the Hungarian language and approximately means «you could defragmentation defragmenting impenetrability defragmentation». It is already morphed, since Hungarian is an agglutinative language.

The Hungarian language has many causes for writing words together, but there are a few rules for avoiding undisciplined length, resulting in unreadability.

Words with less than six syllables can be written in one. Agglutinated words have to be separated by one dash, if they are more than six syllables altogether. If there are more than two words that are already written with a dash and we want to add some more, we have to use a new dash to add it (like C-vitamin-adagolás, meaning «Vitamin C rationing»). If there would be two long words to be written, they are advised to be used separately (possible: békeszerződéstervezet-kidolgozás meaning «peace agreement plan elaboration», but advised rather a békeszerződés tervezetének kidolgozása meaning «the elaboration of the plan of the peace agreement»).
^[12]

The longest dictionary form word is the word megszentségtelenített, with 21 characters (although it ultimately derives from the word szent meaning: «saint» or «sacred»), and it means «desecrated» or «profaned».^[13]

Korean[edit]

There is some disagreement about what is the longest word in the Korean language, which arises from misunderstanding of the Korean language.

The longest word appearing in the Standard Korean Dictionary published by the National Institute of the Korean Language is 청자 양인각 연당초상감 모란 문은구 대접 (靑瓷陽印刻蓮唐草象嵌牡丹文銀釦대접); Revised Romanization: cheongjayang-in-gakyeondangchosang-gammoranmuneun-gudaejeop, which is a kind of ceramic bowl from the Goryeo dynasty; that word is 17 syllable blocks long, and contains a total of 46 hangul letters.^[14][15] However, to call this a word would be incorrect. It simply consists of many words which act as adjectives for the one word 대접.

The word 니코틴아마이드 아데닌 다이뉴클레오타이드 (nikotin-amaideu adenin dainyukeulle-otaideu), a phonetic transcription of «nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide», has a larger number of syllable blocks (19) but a smaller number of letters (41), but does not qualify as a single word due to the spaces.

In proper nouns, many Korean monarchs have overly long posthumous names built from many different Sino-Korean nouns describing their positive characteristics, for example Sunjo of Joseon, whose full posthumous name is the 77-syllable-block 순조 선각 연덕현도 경인순희 체성응명흠광석경계천배극융원돈휴의행소윤희화준렬대중지정 홍훈철 모건시태형창 운홍기고명박후강건수정계통수력 공유범문안무정영경 성효대왕 (sunjoseongag-yeondeoghyeondogyeong-insunhuicheseong-eungmyeongheumgwangseoggyeong-gyecheonbaegeug-yung-wondonhyuuihaengsoyunhuihwa-junlyeoldaejungjijeonghonghuncheolmogeonsitaehy-eongchang-unhong-gigomyeongbaghugang-geonsujeong-gyetongsulyeoggong-yubeommun-anmujeong-yeong-gyeongseonghyodaewang).^{[citation needed]} This is simply writing the phrase in Hanja (Hanzi) 純祖先覺淵德顯道景仁純禧體聖凝命欽光錫慶繼天配極隆元敦休懿行昭倫熙化峻烈大中至正洪勳哲謨乾始泰亨昌運弘基高明博厚剛健粹精啓統垂曆建功裕範文安武靖英敬成孝肅皇帝, being transliterate in Hangul. It is not a single word and does not qualify as a lexical entry.

Mongolian[edit]

A popular example of the longest suffixed word in Mongolian is «Цахилгаанжуулалтыхантайгаа» (tsakhilgaanjuulaltykhantaigaa) which is 26 letters long. Here is a table showing, with translations, which suffixes are added.^{[citation needed]}

Word	Translation
Цахилгаан	electricity (power)
Цахилгаанжуул	electrify
Цахилгаанжуулалт	electrification
Цахилгаанжуулалтын	electrifications
Цахилгаанжуулалтыхан	electricians
Цахилгаанжуулалтыхантай	with electricians
Цахилгаанжуулалтыхантайгаа	do (action) with electricians

Ojibwe[edit]

The longest word in the Ojibwe language is miinibaashkiminasiganibiitoosijiganibadagwiingweshiganibakwezhigan (66 letters), meaning «blueberry pie». This literally translates to «blueberry cooked to jellied preserve that lies in layers in which the face is covered in bread».^[16]

Tagalog[edit]

Tagalog can make long words by adding on affixes, suffixes, and other root words with a connector.

The longest published word in the language is pinakanakakapagngitngitngitngitang-pagsisinungasinungalingan, with 59 letters. This compound word means «to keep making up a lie that causes the most extreme anger while pretending you are not.»^[17]

Turkish[edit]

Turkish, as an agglutinative language, carries the potential for words of arbitrary length.

Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine, at 70 letters, has been cited as the longest Turkish word. It was used in a contrived story designed to use this word.^[18][19] The word means «As if you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones» and its usage was illustrated as follows:

Kötü amaçların güdüldüğü bir öğretmen okulundayız. Yetiştirilen öğretmenlere öğrencileri nasıl muvaffakiyetsizleştirecekleri öğretiliyor. Yani öğretmenler birer muvaffakiyetsizleştirici olarak yetiştiriliyorlar. Fakat öğretmenlerden biri muvaffakiyetsizleştirici olmayı, yani muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştirilmeyi reddediyor, bu konuda ileri geri konuşuyor. Bütün öğretmenleri kolayca muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriverebileceğini sanan okul müdürü bu duruma sinirleniyor, ve söz konusu öğretmeni makamına çağırıp ona diyor ki: Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine laflar ediyormuşsunuz ha?
We are in a teachers’ training school that has evil purposes. The teachers who are being educated in that school are being taught how to make unsuccessful ones from students. So, one by one, teachers are being educated as makers of unsuccessful ones. However, one of those teachers refuses to be maker of unsuccessful ones, in other words, to be made a maker of unsuccessful ones; he talks about and criticizes the school’s stand on the issue. The headmaster who thinks every teacher can be made easily/quickly into a maker of unsuccessful ones gets angry. He invites the teacher to his room and says «You are talking as if you were one of those we can not easily/quickly turn into a maker of unsuccessful ones, huh?»

Other well-known very long Turkish words are:^[20]

• Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınızcasına means «As if you are one of those people whom we could not turn into a Czechoslovakian».
• Afyonkarahisarlılaştırabildiklerimizdenmişsinizcesine means «As if you are one of the people that we made resemble from Afyonkarahisar». (Afyonkarahisar is a city in Turkey.)

Word formation[edit]

Turkish	English
Muvaffak	Successful
Muvaffakiyet	Success
Muvaffakiyetsiz	Unsuccessful (‘without success’)
Muvaffakiyetsizleş(-mek)	(To) become unsuccessful
Muvaffakiyetsizleştir(-mek)	(To) make one unsuccessful
Muvaffakiyetsizleştirici	Maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileş(-mek)	(To) become a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştir(-mek)	(To) make one a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriver(-)	(To) easily/quickly make one a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriverebil(-mek)	(To) be able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebil(-mek)	To be able to not make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilecek	One who is not able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilecekler	Those who are not able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimiz	Those whom we cannot make easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizden	From those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmiş	(Would be) from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsiniz	You would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine	As if you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones

Non-agglutinative languages[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Afrikaans, as it is a daughter language of the Dutch language, is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length in the same way as in the Dutch language. According to the Total Book of South African Records, the longest word in the language is^[21]
Tweedehandse­motor­verkoops­manne­vakbond­stakings­vergadering­sameroepers­toespraak­skrywers­pers­verklaring­uitreikings­media­konferensie­aankondiging (136 letters), which means «issuable media conference’s announcement at a press release regarding the convener’s speech at a secondhand car dealership union’s strike meeting». This word, however, is contrived to be long and does not occur in everyday speech or writing.

Arabic[edit]

Currently, the longest word in Arabic is the 15-letter-long word أَفَإِستَسقَينَاكُمُوها.^[22] Which means «Did we ask you to let us drink it?» However, according to some online sources the 16-letter-long word أَفَإِستَسقَينَاكُمُوهما is the longest word in Arabic meaning «Did we ask you to let us drink both of them?». Regardless, official sources supporting such a stance cannot be found.

Bulgarian[edit]

The Bulgarian online etymological dictionary claims that longest word in Bulgarian to be the 39-letter-long непротивоконституционствувателствувайте (neprotivokonstitutsionstvuvatelstvuvayte), introduced in the Constitution of Bulgaria of 1947 (Dimitrov Constitution).^[23] The word means «do not perform actions against the constitution» (addressed to more than one person).

Catalan[edit]

The longest word in Catalan is considered to be Anticonstitucionalment, an adverb meaning «[done in a way that is] against the constitution», however, the scientific word Psiconeuroimmunoendocrinologia, related to endocrinology, has been proposed by the University of Barcelona to be the true longest word.^[24]

Croatian[edit]

The longest known word in Croatian is prijestolonasljednikovičičinima,^[25] meaning «to those who belong to the throne successor’s little wife.» The 31-letter word is the dative case of prijestolonasljednikovičica «the throne successor’s little wife» which is the diminutive of prijestolonasljednikovica «the throne successor’s wife.»

Czech[edit]

Traditionally, the word nejneobhospodařovávatelnější («of the least cultivable», 28 letters) is considered as the longest Czech word, but there are some longer artificial words. Most of them are compound adjectives in dative, instrumental or other grammatical case and derived from the iterative or frequentative verbal form or the ability adjective form (like «-able»).

• Nejnezdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovávatelnějšími (47; Instrumental case of the ones least multipliable by a group of ninety-nine on a regular basis)
• Nejnezdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovávatelnější (Those who are the least multiplable by a group ninety-nine on a regular basis)
• Nejzdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovávatelnější (Those who are the most multiplable by a group ninety-nine on a regular basis)
• Zdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovávatelnější (Those who are more multiplable by a group ninety-nine on a regular basis)
• Zdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovávatelní (Those who are multiplable by a group of ninety-nine on a regular basis)
• Zdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovávat (Alternative of «multiply out by a group of ninety-nine on a regular basis»)
• Zdevětadevadesáteroroznásobovat (Multiply out by a group of ninety-nine on a regular basis — continuous grammatical aspect)
• Zdevětadevadesáteroznásobovat (Multiply by ninety-nine on a regular basis – continuous grammatical aspect)
• Zdevětadevadesáteroznásobit (Multiply by a group of ninety-nine once)
• Zdevětadevadesáteronásobit (Multiply by a group of ninety-nine)
• Devětadevadesátero (A group of ninety-nine)
• Devětadevadesát (Inverse of devadesát devět = ninety-nine)

Danish[edit]

Danish, like many Germanic languages, is capable of compounding words to create ad hoc compounds of potentially limitless length. Nevertheless, the constructed word special­læge­praksis­planlægnings­stabiliserings­periode – which means «a period of stabilising the planning of a specialist doctor’s practice» – was cited in 1993 by the Danish version of the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest word in the Danish language at 51 letters long. It is however not possible (using Google) to find a text, which actually uses this word, except for in the context of discussing the longest Danish word.

Dutch[edit]

Dutch, like many Germanic languages, is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length. The 53-letter word Kinder­carnavals­optocht­voorbereidings­werkzaamheden­plan, meaning «preparation activities plan for a children’s carnival procession», was cited by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Dutch word.^[26]

The longest word in the authoritative Van Dale Dutch dictionary (2009 edition) in plural form is meervoudige­persoonlijkheids­stoornissen;^[27] 38 letters long, meaning «multiple personality disorders». The entry in the dictionary however is in the singular, counting 35 letters.

The free OpenTaal dictionary,^[28] which has been certified by the Dutch Language Union (the official Dutch language institute) and is included in many open-source applications, contains the following longest words, which are 40 letters long:

• vervoerders­aansprakelijkheids­verzekering, «carriers’ liability insurance»;
• bestuurders­aansprakelijkheids­verzekering, «drivers’ liability insurance»;
• overeenstemmings­beoordelings­procedures, «conformity assessment procedures» (38 letters)

The word often said to be the longest in Dutch – probably because of its funny meaning and alliteration – which has also appeared in print, is Hottentotten­soldaten­tenten­tentoonstellings­bouwterrein («construction ground for the Hottentot soldiers’ tents exhibition»); counting 53 letters.

English[edit]

The 45-letter word pneumono­ultra­microscopic­silico­volcano­coni­osis is the longest English word that appears in a major dictionary.^[29][30] Originally coined to become a candidate for the longest word in English, the term eventually developed some independent use in medicine.^[31] It is referred to as «P45» by researchers.^[32]

The 30-letter word pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism refers to an inherited disorder,^[33] named for its similarity to pseudohypoparathyroidism in presentation, which is in turn named for its similarity to hypoparathyroidism. This is the longest word that was not contrived with the sole intention of becoming the longest word.^[34]

Flocci­nauci­nihili­pili­fication, at 29 letters and meaning the act of estimating something as being worth so little as to be practically valueless, or the habit of doing so, is the longest non-technical, coined word in Oxford Dictionaries of the English language.^[29]

Anti­dis­establishment­arian­ism, at 28 letters, is the longest non-coined, non-systematic English word in Oxford Dictionaries.^[29] It refers to a 19th-century political movement that opposed the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state church of England.

French[edit]

German[edit]

In German, whole numbers (smaller than 1 million) can be expressed as single words, which makes sieben­hundert­sieben­und­siebzig­tausend­sieben­hundert­sieben­und­siebzig (777,777) a 65 letter word. In combination with -malig or, as an inflected noun, (des …) -maligen, all numbers can be written as one word. A 79 letter word, Donau­dampf­schiffahrts­elektrizitäten­haupt­betriebs­werk­bau­unter­beamten­gesellschaft, was named the longest published word in the German language by the 1972 Guinness Book of World Records, but longer words are possible. The word was the name of a prewar Viennese club for subordinate officials of the headquarters of the electrical division of the company named the Donau­dampf­schiffahrts­gesellschaft, «Danube steam boat operation company».

The longest word that is not created artificially as a longest-word record seems to be Rindfleisch­etikettierungs­überwachungs­aufgaben­übertragungs­gesetz at 63 letters. The word means «law delegating beef label monitoring» but as of 2013, it was removed from the books because European Union regulations have changed and that particular law became obsolete, leading to news reports that Germany «had lost its longest word».^[35]

In December 2016 the 51-letter word Bundes­präsidenten­stichwahl­wiederholungs­verschiebung («deferral of the second iteration of the federal presidential run-off election») was elected the Austrian Word of the Year 2016.^[36] The jury called it a «descriptive word» which «in terms of its content as well as its length, is a symbol and an ironic form of commentary for the political events of this year, characterized by the very long campaign for the presidential election, the challenges of the voting process, and its reiteration.»^[36][37]

Greek[edit]

In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC), Aristophanes coined the 182-letter word λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων (Lopado­temacho­selacho­galeo­kranio­leipsano­drim­hypo­trimmato­silphio­karabo­melito­katakechy­meno­kichl­epi­kossypho­phatto­perister­alektryon­opte­kephallio­kigklo­peleio­lagoio­siraio­baphe­tragano­pterygon), a fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish and other meat. The word is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written.^[38]
A modern Greek word of 22 letters is ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογράφημα (ilektroenkefalográfima) (gen. ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογραφήματος (ilektroenkefalografímatos), 25 letters) meaning «electroencephalogram».

Hebrew[edit]

The longest Hebrew word is the 19-letter-long (including vowels) וכשלאנציקלופדיותינו (u’chshelentsiklopediotenu),^[39] which means «And when to our encyclopedias…» The Hebrew word אנציקלופדיה (encyclopedia) is of a European origin.

The longest word in Hebrew that doesn’t originate from another language is וכשלהתמרמרויותינו, (u’chshelehitmarmeruyotenu) which crudely means «And when, to our resentments/ grievances»

The 11-letter-long (including vowels) וְהָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים (veha’aḥashdarpením) is the longest word to appear in the Hebrew Bible. — Its meaning is «And the satraps». It also does not originate from Hebrew.^{[citation needed]}

Other very long Hebrew words include:

• וכשבהשתעשעויותיהם (u’chshebehishta’ashuateyhem) meaning: «And when they were having fun» or «And while in their playfulness».

Hindi[edit]

Hindi has a finite list of compound words which are based on established grammatical rules of the language. The word commonly cited as the longest in Hindi is लौहपथगामिनीसूचकदर्शकहरितताम्रलौहपट्टिका (lauhpathagāminīsūchakdarshkaharitatāmralauhpaṭṭikā), which consists of 24 consonants and 10 vowel diacritics, making up a total of 34 characters. The word literally means «a green railway warning signboard made of copper-iron». Its plural would be लौहपथगामिनीसूचकदर्शकहरितताम्रलौहपट्टिकाएँ (lauhpathagāminīsūchakdarshkaharitatāmralauhpaṭṭikāẽ), which has an additional vowel and a diacritic. It is a neologism and not in common use.^[40]

A much smaller word borrowed from Sanskrit which is in common use and is also often cited as the longest word is किंकर्तव्यविमूढ़ (kinkartavyavimūṛh). It consists of 8 consonants and 5 vowel diacritics, making up a total of 13 characters. The word literally means «confused about what to do», meaning to be bewildered or flabbergasted.

Icelandic[edit]

Icelandic has the ability to form compounds of arbitrary length by stringing together genitives (eignarfallssamsetning), so no single words of maximal length exist in the language. However, vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúr and vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur are sometimes cited as particularly long words;^[41] the latter has 64 letters and means «a keychain ring for the outdoor key of road workers shed in a moor called Vaðlaheiði».

Analysis of a corpus of contemporary Icelandic texts by Uwe Quasthoff, Sabine Fiedler and Erla Hallsteinsdóttir identified Alþjóðaflutningaverkamannasambandsins («of the International Transport Workers’ Federation»; 37 letters) and Norðvestur-Atlantshafsfiskveiðistofnunarinnar («of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries’ Organization»; 45 letters) as the longest unhyphenated and hyphenated words.^[42]

The longest word occurring at least twice in the University of Leipzig isl-is_web_2015 corpus is Auðmannastjórnvaldaembættisstjórnmálaverkalýðsverðlausraverðbréfaábyrgðarlausrakvóta-ræningjaaftaníossaspilling (110 letters).^[43]

Indonesian[edit]

Indonesian is a part of Austronesian language. According from Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia. The longest word of this language is mempertanggungjawabkan, which is 22 letter meaning «take responsibility» in english and heksakosioiheksekontaheksafobia, 30 letter meaning «hexacosioihexecontahexaphobia» in english.^[44]

Irish[edit]

The longest non-compound word in Irish is grianghrafadóireacht, a 20-letter-long word meaning «photography».^[45]

Italian[edit]

The longest word in Italian is traditionally precipitevolissimevolmente, which is a 26-letter-long adverb.^[46] It is formed by subsequent addition of postfixes to the original root:

1. precipitevole: «hasty»;
2. precipitevolissimo: «very hasty»;
3. precipitevolissimevole: «[of someone/something] that acts very hastily», (not grammatically correct^{[citation needed]});
4. precipitevolissimevolmente: «in a way like someone/something that acts very hastily» (not grammatically correct, but nowadays part of the language).

The word is never used in every-day language, but in jokes. Nevertheless, it is an official part of Italian language; it was coined in 1677 by poet Francesco Moneti:

perché alla terra alfin torna repente / precipitevolissimevolmente

— Francesco Moneti, Cortona Convertita, canto III, LXV

The word technically violates Italian grammar rules, the correct form being precipitevolissimamente, which is three letters and one syllable shorter. The poet coined the new word to have 11 syllables in the second verse.

Other words can be created with a similar (and grammatically correct) mechanism starting from a longer root, winding up with a longer word. Some examples are:

• sovramagnificentissimamente (cited by Dante Alighieri in De vulgari eloquentia), 27 letters, «in a way that is more than magnificent by far» (archaic);^[47]
• incontrovertibilissimamente, 27 letters, «in a way that is very difficult to falsify»;
• particolareggiatissimamente, 27 letters, «in an extremely detailed way»;
• anticostituzionalissimamente, 28 letters, «in a way that strongly violates the constitution».

The longest accepted neologism is psiconeuroendocrinoimmunologia (30 letters).^{[citation needed]}.

Other long words are:

• nonilfenossipolietilenossietonolo (33 letters — chemical)
• pentagonododecaedrotetraedrico (30 letters — 3D geometric figure)
• esofagodermatodigiunoplastica (29 letters — surgery)
• elettroencefalograficamente (27 letters — medical adverb: electroencephalographically)
• diclorodifeniltricloroetano (27 letters — chemical: DDT)

Láadan[edit]

Láadan is not agglutinating as there is no mechanism to combine arbitrary words into one without intermediating grammatical mechanisms (such as the relativizer § In other languages); however, there are a number of affixes that further elucidate the contextual meaning of a word. These are ignored when determining the longest words in the language. The primary reference for vocabulary is the 3rd edition of the official dictionary and grammar.

• oshetham éelenethilethu, 22 letters not counting the space, or 17 phonemes (since for example ée is a toneme of e, and th is a separate sound from *t or *h separately—the asterisks indicate that neither sound exists in Láadan) — a set phrase for a wreath of grapevine, a common symbol of the language^[48]
• shineshidethóo, 14 letters or 10 phonemes — an invited guest^[49]

Latin[edit]

The longest attested word in Classical Latin is subductisupercilicarptor, which was coined by the obscure poet Laevius in the 1st century. In Medieval Latin, the longest known word is honorificabilitudinitas, which was first attested in a treatise written by the 8th century Grammarian Peter of Pisa. One can further increase the length of the words by adding the Dative plural case to them, which would result in the words subductisupercilicarptoribus and honorificabilitudinitatibus respectively.^{[citation needed]}

Lithuanian[edit]

The longest Lithuanian word is 40 letters long:

• nebeprisikiškiakopūstlapiaujančiuosiuose — «in those, of masculine gender, who aren’t gathering enough wood sorrel’s leaves by themselves anymore.» — the plural locative case of past iterative active participle of verb kiškiakopūstlapiauti meaning «to pick wood-sorrels’ leaves» (leaves of edible forest plant with sour taste, word by word translation «rabbit cabbage»). The word is attributed to software developer / writer Andrius Stašauskas.^{[50][unreliable source?][51][unreliable source?]}

Māori[edit]

The Māori-language 85-letter place name Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu is the longest place name in English-speaking countries and second longest in the world, according to Wises New Zealand Guide and The New Zealand Herald.^[52]

Polish[edit]

Very long Polish words can be created as adjectives from numerals and nouns. For example, Dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcionarodowościowego, 54 letters, is the genitive singular form of an adjective meaning roughly «of nine-hundred and ninety-nine nationalities». Similar words are rather artificial compounds, constructed within allowed grammar rules, but are seldom used in spoken language, although they are not nonsense words.^{[citation needed]} It is possible to make even longer words in this way, for example:

Dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćmiliardówdziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćmilionów-dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćtysięcydziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcioletniego (176 letters, meaning «of 999,999,999,999 years old»).

One of the longest common words is 31-letter dziewięćdziesięciokilkuletniemu – the dative singular form of «ninety-and-some years old one». Another known long word is konstantynopolitańczykowianeczka^{[citation needed]} (32 letters), «a daughter of a man who lives in Constantinople» and pięćdziesięciogroszówka (23 letters), «a 50 groszy coin».^[53]

Romanian[edit]

The longest Romanian word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioză, with 44 letters,^[54] but the longest one admitted by the Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române («Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language», DEX) is electroglotospectrografie, with 25 letters.^[55][56]

Russian[edit]

Most likely one of the longest Russian words is a chemical term, тетра­гидро­пиранил­цикло­пентил­тетра­гидро­пиридо­пириди­новая (tetra­gidro­piranil­ciklo­pentil­tetra­gidro­pirido­piridi­novaya), which contains 55 letters. It was used in Russian patent RU2285004C2 (granted and published in 2006). This word is an adjective that can describe e.g. a chemical formula. As a noun, it is without the last 4 letters.

Another one is превысоко­много­рассмотрительствующий (prevysoko­mnogo­rassmotritel’stvuyushchiy), which contains 35 letters. It is an adjective in the bureaucratic language of the 19th century «meaning a very polite form of addressing clerks, something like Your Excellency, Your Highness, Your Majesty all together» (Guinness World Records 2003^{[citation needed]}). Its dative singular form, превысоко­много­рассмотрительствующему (prevysoko­mnogo­rassmotritel’stvuyushchemu, with 36 letters) can be an example of excessively official vocabulary of the 19th century.

Numeral compounds can be long as well, such as Тысячево­сьмисот­восьми­десяти­девяти­микро­метровый (Tysyachevo­s’misot­vos’mi­desyati­devyati­mikro­metrovyy), which is an adjective containing 46 letters, meaning «1889-micrometers long».^[57]

Sanskrit[edit]

Sanskrit allows word compounding of arbitrary length. Nouns and verbs can be expressed in a sentence.^{[citation needed]}

The longest sentence ever used in Sanskrit literature is (in Devanagari):

निरन्तरान्धकारितदिगन्तरकन्दलदमन्दसुधारसबिन्दुसान्द्रतरघनाघनवृन्द-सन्देहकरस्यन्दमानमकरन्दबिन्दुबन्धुरतरमाकन्दतरुकुलतल्पकल्पमृ-दुलसिकताजालजटिलमूलतलमरुवकमिलदलघुलघुलयकलितरमणीय-पानीयशालिकाबालिकाकरारविन्दगलन्तिकागलदेलालवङ्गपाटलघनसा-रकस्तूरिकातिसौरभमेदुरलघुतरमधुरशीतलतरसलिलधारानिराकरिष्णुत-दीयविमलविलोचनमयूखरेखापसारितपिपासायासपथिकलोकान्

In IAST transliteration:

nirantarāndhakārita-digantara-kandaladamanda-sudhārasa-bindu-sāndratara-ghanāghana-vṛnda-sandehakara-syandamāna-makaranda-bindu-bandhuratara-mākanda-taru-kula-talpa-kalpa-mṛdula-sikatā-jāla-jaṭila-mūla-tala-maruvaka-miladalaghu-laghu-laya-kalita-ramaṇīya-pānīya-śālikā-bālikā-karāra-vinda-galantikā-galadelā-lavaṅga-pāṭala-ghanasāra-kastūrikātisaurabha-medura-laghutara-madhura-śītalatara-saliladhārā-nirākariṣṇu-tadīya-vimala-vilocana-mayūkha-rekhāpasārita-pipāsāyāsa-pathika-lokān

from the Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya Campū by Tirumalāmbā,^[58] composed of 195 Sanskrit letters (428 letters in the roman transliteration, dashes excluded), thus making it the longest word ever to appear in worldwide literature.^[59][60]

Each hyphen separates every individual word this word is composed of.

The approximate meaning of this word is:

«In it, the distress, caused by thirst, to travellers, was alleviated by clusters of rays of the bright eyes of the girls; the rays that were shaming the currents of light, sweet and cold water charged with the strong fragrance of cardamom, clove, saffron, camphor and musk and flowing out of the pitchers (held in) the lotus-like hands of maidens (seated in) the beautiful water-sheds, made of the thick roots of vetiver mixed with marjoram, (and built near) the foot, covered with heaps of couch-like soft sand, of the clusters of newly sprouting mango trees, which constantly darkened the intermediate space of the quarters, and which looked all the more charming on account of the trickling drops of the floral juice, which thus caused the delusion of a row of thick rainy clouds, densely filled with abundant nectar.»

Slovak[edit]

Traditionally, the word najneobhospodarovávateľnejšieho («of the least cultivable», 31 letters) is considered as the longest Slovak word, but there are some longer artificial words. Most of them are compound adjectives in dative, instrumental or other grammatical case and derived from the iterative or frequentative verbal form or the ability adjective form (like -able).^[61]
[62]

Artificial words, lexically valid but never used in language:

• znajneprekryštalizovávateľnejšievajúcimi, 40 letters, «through the least crystallised ones»
• znajnepreinternacionalizovateľnejšievať, 39 letters
• najnezrevolucionalizovateľnejšiemu, 34 letters ^[63]
• najnerozkrasokorčuľovateľnejšieho, 33 letters

Artificial words using Slovak towns or places, lexically valid but never used in language:

• znajneprehornádskodružstevnianskovávateľnejšievajúcimi, 54 letters
• znajneprechminianskojakubovianskovávateľnejšievajúcimi, 54 letters

Numerals:

• deväťstodeväťdesiatdeväťtisícštyristodeväťdesiatdeväť, 53 letters, «999499» ^[64]
• sedemstodeväťdesiatsedemtisícsedemstodeväťdesiatsedem, 53 letters, «797797» ^[65]

Spanish[edit]

The longest word in Spanish is esternocleidomastoideitis (inflammation of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, 30 letters).^[66] Runners-up are anticonstitucionalmente ([proceeding in a manner that is] contrary to the constitution) and electroencefalografistas (specialists that do electrical scans on brains (electroencephalographists)), both 23 letters.

The word anticonstitucionalmente is usually considered the longest word in general use. This word can be made even longer by the addition of the absolute superlative suffix, rendering anticonstitucionalísimamente (i.e.: «very strongly against the constitution»). Some dictionaries (but not the RAE dictionary^[67]) removed its root word (anticonstitucional) in 2005, causing comments about it not «being a valid word anymore» and suggesting the use of inconstitucional as a replacement.^{[citation needed]}

Swedish[edit]

Realisationsvinstbeskattning (28 letters) is the longest word in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista. It means «capital gains taxation», and is usually shortened to Reavinstskatt (same meaning).
However, Swedish grammar makes it possible to create arbitrarily long words. One such word is Spårvagnsaktiebolagsskensmutsskjutarefackföreningspersonalbeklädnadsmagasinsförråd-sförvaltarens (94 letters) which means: «[belonging to] The manager of the depot for the supply of uniforms to the personnel of the track cleaners’ union of the tramway company».^[68]

Toki Pona[edit]

The longest word in Toki Pona is kijetesantakalu (15 letters), which was proposed in 2009 as an April Fools’ joke by the language’s creator Sonja Lang as a word for any animal of the Procyonidae family, which includes raccoons and related species.^[69] The word has since entered into common use, and it has become common to define kijetesantakalu more broadly as any animal from the Musteloidea superfamily.^[70] In 2019 James Flear designed a glyph for kijetesantakalu in Toki Pona’s sitelen pona writing system, which has become a popular icon within the Toki Pona community.^[71]

As a minimalistic isolating constructed language, most words in Toki Pona are much shorter, the median being 4 letters. The longest words featured in the 2014 book Toki Pona: The Language of Good, Lang’s first official Toki Pona publication, are the 7-letter words kepeken («to use, by means of») and sitelen («symbol, picture»). The list of proposed country names in the same book also mentions ma Papuwanijukini («Papua New Guinea»), which includes a 14-letter proper adjective.^[72]

Vietnamese[edit]

Vietnamese is an isolating language, which naturally limits the length of a morpheme. The longest, at seven letters, is nghiêng, which means «inclined» or «to lean».^[73] This is the longest word that can be written without a space. However, not all words in Vietnamese are single morphemes. Indeed, nghiêng can be reduplicated as nghiêng nghiêng.

The written language abounds with compound words in which each constituent word is delimited by spaces, just like any freestanding word. Moreover, the grammar lacks inflection to mark parts of speech, and prepositions are often optional. Therefore, the boundary between a word and a phrase is poorly defined.^[74] Examples of this ambiguity include:

• Chủ nghĩa phân biệt chủng tộc («racism»), which is composed of the words chủ nghĩa («ideology»), phân biệt («discriminate»), and chủng tộc («race»)
• Cơm gà xào sả ớt, which literally describes a dish of grilled chicken sauteed with lemongrass and peppers on rice
• Ông bà anh chị em, a polite pronoun composed of five kinship terms

Unlike locally coined compound words, compound words in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary are less ambiguous, because of the use of premodifiers (as in English) as opposed to the native postmodifiers. Long Sino-Vietnamese words include bách khoa toàn thư («encyclopedia») and thủy động lực học («hydrodynamics»).

Loanwords and pronunciation respellings from other languages can also result in long words. For example, «consortium» is côngxoocxiom (12 letters), and «Indonesia» may be left as-is or spelled In-đô-nê-xi-a (13 counting hyphens).^[75] The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Vietnam systematically respells foreign names, introducing long names into an official Vietnamese lexicon:

• Kômixacjepxkaia («Komissarzhevskaya», 15 letters)^[76]
• Rôjơđextơvenxki («Rozhdestvensky», 15 letters)^[77]
• Mêtơrôpôliten Ôpêra («Metropolitan Opera», 18 letters)^[78]

Long initialisms in Vietnamese include:

• CHXHCNVN (Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam, «Socialist Republic of Vietnam», 8 characters)
• MTDTGPMNVN (Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam, «Viet Cong», 10 characters)

In modern Vietnamese, compound words can be identified fairly easily within title cased text: a morpheme that begins with a capital letter followed by one or more morphemes that begin with a lowercase letter. For example, xã hội chủ nghĩa («socialism») is capitalized as one component within Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam.

Welsh[edit]

Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch, a railway station on the island of Anglesey in Wales, is the longest place name in the Welsh language. At 51 letters in the Welsh alphabet (the digraphs ll and ch are each collated as single letters) the name can be translated as «St Mary’s church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave». However, it was artificially contrived in the 1860s as a publicity stunt, to give the station the longest name of any railway station in the United Kingdom.

Long words are comparatively rare in Welsh. Candidates for long words other than proper nouns include the following (the digraph dd is also treated as a single letter, as is ng in many instances including in the last word below):

• gwrthddatgysylltiadaeth (antidisestablishmentarianism)
• microgyfrifiaduron (microcomputers)
• gwrthgyfansoddiaethwyr (anticonstitutionalists)
• lled-ddargludyddion (semiconductors)
• tra-arglwyddiaethasant (they tyrannised)
• cyfrwngddarostynedigaeth (intercession)^[79] (-au can be added to form the plural, and the word can be further lengthened slightly by initial mutation: fy nghyfrwngddarostynedigaethau, «my intercessions»)

See also[edit]

• Morphology (linguistics)
• Longest English sentence
• Coxeter group — mathematical concept whose entities are sometimes called words

References[edit]

Is it a German word, I hear you ask? German is pretty famous for its long words, but it doesn’t actually have the longest word in the world. And honestly, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding what the actual longest word in the world is. If you have hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (a fear of long words), be brave. Because we’re about to look at some of the longest words in the world in any language, in fact.

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The longest words in the world

German

German is well-known for having very long words due to it being an agglutinative language – i.e. it smashes shorter words together to make a longer, more descriptive one. Finding the longest German word is tricky because, like in English, there’s some controversy over what a proper word is. The most widely-accepted longest German word is  Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän, which apparently means Danube steamship company captain. Cool job, cool word. It has 42 letters. (I’m ready for the Germans among you to tell me about much longer words you have – my question is, have you ever used them?!)

Finnish

German isn’t the only agglutinative language; in fact there are quite a few and Finnish is one of them. Their longest accepted word is 61 letters long! And like in German, it’s also a job. Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas means airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student. Imagine having to tell people your job title with that one. 

Korean

The longest word in Korean is 청자양인각연당초상감모란문은구대접. It is 17 syllable blocks – which doesn’t look very long to anyone who doesn’t read Korea. But it has 46 Hangul letters – so that’s pretty long! It describes a kind of ceramic bowl. Another super useful, everyday word. 

Afrikaans

Tweedehandsemotorverkoopsmannevakbondstakingsvergaderingsameroeperstoespraakskrywerspersverklaringuitreikingsmediakonferensieaankondiging is the longest word in Afrikaans. It has 136 letters! It means issuable media conference’s announcement at a press release regarding the convener’s speech at a secondhand car dealership union’s strike meeting. Unfortunately, this is a word which has been made up to be a very long word, so I’m not sure we can really count it. It’s also extremely specific and unlikely to be widely used.

Bulgarian

The longest word in Bulgarian is 39 letters long and it is Непротивоконституционствувателствувайте. It translates in English to Do not act against the constitution! It makes me wonder if there are a lot of rebellious Bulgarians out there if they needed a single word to express this. 

Ojibwe

Ojibwe is an indigenous language spoken in Canada and the United States. Containing 66 letters, miinibaashkiminasiganibiitoosijiganibadagwiingweshiganibakwezhigan is a very descriptive term for what we in English call blueberry pie. I think that makes this my favourite long word in the world. 

The longest words in English

The longest word you will find in an English dictionary is 45 letters long and is the name for the disease silicosis: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Lovely, eh? There’s a bit of controversy surrounding this word though because it was specifically made up to be the longest word in the English dictionary. And it’s not very useful for us average humans.

Antidisestablishmentarianism is often taught to English kids as the longest word in English. But, as we’ve seen above, that’s not true. Deinstitutionalisation and counterrevolutionaries are the longest words you are likely to find in a general text in English – so the longest words you might really need to learn. Both words have 22 letters. 

So what is the longest word in the world then?

The longest word in the world is an English word. It is 189,819 letters long and takes over three hours to say. It’s the chemical name for a titin protein. Unfortunately, it’s not a useful word for almost anyone as it’s hardly something we’d use everyday.

According to Guinness World Records, the longest word in the world is in Sanskrit. And it is 195 characters long. Here it is: 

निरन्तरान्धकारित-दिगन्तर-कन्दलदमन्द-सुधारस-बिन्दु-सान्द्रतर-घनाघन-वृन्द-सन्देहकर-स्यन्दमान-मकरन्द-बिन्दु-बन्धुरतर-माकन्द-तरु-कुल-तल्प-कल्प-मृदुल-सिकता-जाल-जटिल-मूल-तल-मरुवक-मिलदलघु-लघु-लय-कलित-रमणीय-पानीय-शालिका-बालिका-करार-विन्द-गलन्तिका-गलदेला-लवङ्ग-पाटल-घनसार-कस्तूरिकातिसौरभ-मेदुर-लघुतर-मधुर-शीतलतर-सलिलधारा-निराकरिष्णु-तदीय-विमल-विलोचन-मयूख-रेखापसारित-पिपासायास-पथिक-लोकान्.

Beautiful, isn’t it? It first appeared in literature and it describes a region in Tamil Nadu in India. So officially, this is the longest word in the world.

So there you have it! These are some of the longest words in the world. Which ones of them are you going to learn? If I had to choose, it’d definitely be the Ojibwe word for blueberry pie, as it may one day come in useful for me! 

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Laura is a freelance writer and was an ESL teacher for eight years. She was born in the UK and has lived in Australia and Poland, where she writes blogs for Lingoda about everything from grammar to dating English speakers. She’s definitely better at the first one. She loves travelling and that’s the other major topic that she writes on. Laura likes pilates and cycling, but when she’s feeling lazy she can be found curled up watching Netflix. She’s currently learning Polish, and her battle with that mystifying language has given her huge empathy for anyone struggling to learn English. Find out more about her work in her portfolio.

The world is a big place full of big words. This is especially true in English, which is the primary language used for science. When a researcher makes a new discovery, they may have to create a new word to define or describe it. Often times, these words can get pretty long. However, there are also some very long English words that are not technical or scientific in nature. In any case, dozens of unique words compete for “the longest word in the world” title, so let’s take a look at the contestants!

The 10 Longest Words in English

Many experts argue over which words should or should not count when determining the longest word in English. For example, some say that it should be the word with the most letters, regardless of the word’s meaning or usage. Others claim that only non-technical, commonly used terms should qualify. Still, others believe that word length should depend on the number of syllables, as opposed to the number of letters. 

Finally, most people agree that hyphenated words (i.e. terms that combine two or more words with a dash) should not be included. For example, you could say that the term great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather is the longest word in English. However, all you’d have to do to make it longer is add another great!

In any case, the following list of the 10 longest words in English will focus on the letter count. Later on, we will discuss some long words that might not make it in the top ten based on letter count, but might still be considered some of the longest words around. So, without further ado, let’s look at the top candidates for the longest word in the world!

Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine (189819 letters, ? syllables)

That’s right, there is a 189819 letter word in the English language! It’s unclear how many syllables the word has, but needless to say, we don’t have room to write out the entire word here! Fortunately, this is just the chemical name for a unique protein that is also known as Titin. If you’d like to know what the word sounds like, you can listen to a computer pronounce it in this hour-long video!

While this is the most “famous” of the long chemical names in the English language, it is not alone. For example, there are virtually endless combinations of chemical compounds that can be combined to form the name of a single strand of DNA. So, in theory, there are English words out there with more than a billion letters!

Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl…serine (1909 letters, ? syllables)

Despite being another chemical name, this word makes the list because it is the longest published word in English. Originally published in a dictionary for students, this word is simply the scientific name for a particular strain of E. Coli. While it may not take as long to say as the previous word on this list, you’re still unlikely to hear it any time soon!

Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsano…pterygon (182 letters, 78 syllables)

This candidate for the longest word in the world originated from a Greek play written by Aristophanes in 391 BC. To this day, it remains the longest word in Ancient Greek literature. While the original Greek word contained 171 letters, it’s English translation contains a whopping 182 letters. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll use this word any time soon, as it refers to a fictional dish comprised of rotted dogfish head, wood pigeon, and dozens of other strange ingredients!

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters, 17 syllables)

Now we’ve come to words that you’ll actually see in an English dictionary. Still, this behemoth has almost twice as many letters as there are in the English alphabet! However, it’s definitely not the kind of word you’ll hear in everyday conversation. Nonetheless, it is, by most standards, the longest word in English and the longest word in the world! This word refers to a lung disease that can occur from inhaling small volcanic particles. So, how do you say pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? Very slowly.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters, 14 syllables)

This is one of the most commonly referenced terms in the competition for the longest word in the world. Why? Because it literally means “a fear of long words!” Whoever created this term must have had a twisted sense of humor!

Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters, 12 syllables)

Finally, we’ve arrived at long words that people can actually pronounce! Nonetheless, for ease of use in medical writings, this term is often shortened to PPHP. It refers to a condition that causes irregular bone growth.

Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters, 12 syllables)

In many circles, floccinaucinihilipilification counts as the longest word in the world because it is the longest non-technical word in the English dictionary. In other words, you could actually find this word in a dictionary AND use it outside of a medical or scientific setting. The term refers to the action of finding something worthless.

Antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters, 12 syllables)

Here’s another word that you might hear people throw around in a casual conversation. In addition to being easier to pronounce than most other words on this list, antidisestablishmentarianism is also a non-technical term. It refers to the belief that a State church should receive funding from the government. Due to its popularity as a fun word to say, many people (mistakenly) believe that it is the longest word in the world.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus (27 letters, 13 syllables)

Despite its length, honorificabilitudinitatibus has a pretty straightforward meaning. The word simply refers to the state of being honorable. So, the next time you want to hand out a compliment and flex your vocabulary skills at the same time, just use honorificabilitudinitatibus!

Thyroparathyroidectomized (25 letters, 9 syllables)

We end our list of the 10 longest words in English with one more medical term. This word refers to the excision of both the thyroid and parathyroid glands. Like many of the words on this list, you’re unlikely to hear this one outside of a medical setting.

The Longest Words in the World by Category

Though the list above shows the 10 longest words in English based on the traditional requirements (i.e. letter count), there are other methods for determining the longest word. So, let’s take a look at a few of the terms that could be considered the longest word in the world based on other criteria:

• The longest word in the world based on letter AND syllable count:
  • Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine
• The longest word in the world to be published:
  • Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl…serine
• The longest non-technical word:
  • Floccinaucinihilipilification
• The longest isogram (word in which every letter is used only once) in the world:
  • Subdermatoglyphic
• The longest recognized “nonsense” word:
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
• The longest one syllable word in the world:
  • Scraunched

Conclusion

As you can see, determining the longest word in the world or the longest word in English is no easy task. Many people don’t count technical terms, but even if you do, the words can get so long that they cannot be feasibly written down or pronounced! In any case, learning one or two of these words will definitely help you sound a lot smarter when speaking English!

In closing, we hope you enjoyed this list of the longest words in the world! As always, for all things English conversation, grammar, or job-related, visit Magoosh Speaking today!

Last Update: Jan 03, 2023

This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested!

Asked by: Adolphus Dicki

Score: 4.7/5
(61 votes)

The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis.

What is the longest word in the world that takes 3 hours to say?

You will be surprised to know that the longest word in English has 1, 89,819 letters and it will take you three and a half hours to pronounce it correctly. This is a chemical name of titin, the largest known protein.

What are the 3 longest words in the world?

Here’s how Merriam-Webster defines the ten longest words in the English language.

Is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis the longest word?

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word to be recognized by major english speaking dictionaries. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is apparently the longest word in the English language. …

What word takes three hours to say?

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)

41 related questions found

By: Aen Ali Hashmi
Posted on Fri, 11-08-2017

The longest word that I ever learned with the correct spellings was floccinaucinihilipilification. By definition, it is the act of assuming something as worthless. After coming across this word mentioned above (I won’t dare to type it again) I wondered if this was the longest word in the world. Thus I embarked on my not-so-adventurous journey to find out THE word. Just in case you have ever wondered the same this article has all the answers.

1)      METHIONYLTHREONYLTHREONYGLUTAMINYLARGINYL … ISOLEUCINE 

The reason why you aren’t able to see the whole word here is that the real word contains 189,819 letters. This word is the full name for a human protein also known as titin. The original word takes nearly 4 hours to pronounce. The reason why this word is so ridiculously long is due to the nature of the field it belongs to.

Ever noticed the chemical names for medicines? They are always a lot longer than widely used names. Such as Bismuth subsalicylate is more commonly known as Bismol. This is the longest word in the whole world but unfortunately, you won’t find it in a dictionary but it’s still a real word.

2)LOPADOTEMACHOSELACHOGALEOKRANIOLEIPSANIOLEIPSANIDRIMYYPOTRIMMATOSILPHIOPARAOMELTIOKATAKECHYMENOKICHLEPIKOSSYPHYAPHATTOPERISTER

This Greek word first and probably the only time appeared in the play assembly women’ by Aristophanes in 391 BC.  This word refers to a fictional fricassee that includes a rotten dogfish head, a wood pigeon, and a roasted head of little grebe (a water bird). Time to dig out some recipes, after all, who doesn’t like to eat rotten heads of animals).

3)      PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS

This is the longest word in the world that made it to the dictionary. So technically, this word holds the crown for the largest official word. Although this word has also gained the reputation of being superfluous only to receive the title of the longest word. This word refers to a disease caused by silica dust inhalation eventually causing the inflammation of the lungs.

4)      PARASTRATIOSPHECOMYIA STRATIOSPHECOMYIOIDES 

This word is essentially the name of a species of flies that lives in Thailand. With a lifespan averaging about eight days, we can only be happy about the fact that they’re not humans or they would spend half of their lifetimes learning the pronunciation of their name and another half while explaining it to others. Nevertheless, these tiny flies with huge names own the longest accepted binominal construction. What have you done in your life?

5)    PSEUDOPSEUDOHYPOPARATHYROIDISM

This word is given to thyroid disorder. This condition is usually inherited. If either one of the parents has this condition there is a 50% chance that they will pass it on to their offspring. The 30-letter word makes it the second-longest disorder to make it to a dictionary.

So now you know the stories behind the longest word in the world ever written in the history of mankind. Interesting, isn’t it? Some of these are added in the dictionary while some are not. These words are hard to pronounce but you can practice. Trying to pronounce these words can be fun, but it can take hours!

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