What is the biggest english word in the world

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The identity of the longest word in English depends on the definition of a word and of length.

Words may be derived naturally from the language’s roots or formed by coinage and construction. Additionally, comparisons are complicated because place names may be considered words, technical terms may be arbitrarily long, and the addition of suffixes and prefixes may extend the length of words to create grammatically correct but unused or novel words.

The length of a word may also be understood in multiple ways. Most commonly, length is based on orthography (conventional spelling rules) and counting the number of written letters. Alternate, but less common, approaches include phonology (the spoken language) and the number of phonemes (sounds).

Word Letters Meaning Claim Dispute
methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl…isoleucine 189,819 The chemical composition of titin, the largest known protein Longest known word overall by magnitudes. Attempts to say the entire word have taken two[1] to three and a half hours.[2] Technical; not in dictionary; whether this should actually be considered a word is disputed
methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl…serine 1,909 The chemical name of E. coli TrpA (P0A877) Longest published word[3] Technical
lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsano…pterygon 183 A fictional dish of food Longest word coined by a major author,[4] the longest word ever to appear in literature[5] Contrived nonce word; not in dictionary; Ancient Greek transliteration
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis 45 The disease silicosis Longest word in a major dictionary[6] Contrived coinage to make it the longest word; technical, but only mentioned and never actually used in communication
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 34 Unclear in source work, has been cited as a nonsense word Made popular in the Mary Poppins film and musical[7] Contrived coinage
pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism 30 A hereditary medical disorder Longest non-contrived word in a major dictionary[8] Technical
antidisestablishmentarianism 28 The political position of opposing disestablishment Longest non-contrived and nontechnical word[9] Not all dictionaries accept it due to lack of usage.[10]
honorificabilitudinitatibus 27 The state of being able to achieve honors Longest word in Shakespeare’s works; longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels[11] Latin

Major dictionaries

The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters), a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles,[12] specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis. The word was deliberately coined to be the longest word in English, and has since been used[citation needed] in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim.[6]

The Oxford English Dictionary contains pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters).

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary does not contain antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters), as the editors found no widespread, sustained usage of the word in its original meaning. The longest word in that dictionary is electroencephalographically (27 letters).[13]

The longest non-technical word in major dictionaries is flocci­nauci­nihili­pili­fication at 29 letters. Consisting of a series of Latin words meaning «nothing» and defined as «the act of estimating something as worthless»; its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741.[14][15][16]

Ross Eckler has noted that most of the longest English words are not likely to occur in general text, meaning non-technical present-day text seen by casual readers, in which the author did not specifically intend to use an unusually long word. According to Eckler, the longest words likely to be encountered in general text are deinstitutionalization and counterrevolutionaries, with 22 letters each.[17]

A computer study of over a million samples of normal English prose found that the longest word one is likely to encounter on an everyday basis is uncharacteristically, at 20 letters.[18]

The word internationalization is abbreviated «i18n», the embedded number representing the number of letters between the first and the last.[19][20][21]

Creations of long words

Coinages

In his play Assemblywomen (Ecclesiazousae), the ancient Greek comedic playwright Aristophanes created a word of 171 letters (183 in the transliteration below), which describes a dish by stringing together its ingredients:

Henry Carey’s farce Chrononhotonthologos (1743) holds the opening line: «Aldiborontiphoscophornio! Where left you Chrononhotonthologos?»

Thomas Love Peacock put these creations into the mouth of the phrenologist Mr. Cranium in his 1816 book Headlong Hall: osteosarchaematosplanchnochondroneuromuelous (44 characters) and osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary (51 characters).

James Joyce made up nine 100-letter words plus one 101-letter word in his novel Finnegans Wake, the most famous of which is Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk. Appearing on the first page, it allegedly represents the symbolic thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve. As it appears nowhere else except in reference to this passage, it is generally not accepted as a real word. Sylvia Plath made mention of it in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, when the protagonist was reading Finnegans Wake.

«Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious», the 34-letter title of a song from the movie Mary Poppins, does appear in several dictionaries, but only as a proper noun defined in reference to the song title. The attributed meaning is «a word that you say when you don’t know what to say.» The idea and invention of the word is credited to songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman.

Agglutinative constructions

The English language permits the legitimate extension of existing words to serve new purposes by the addition of prefixes and suffixes. This is sometimes referred to as agglutinative construction. This process can create arbitrarily long words: for example, the prefixes pseudo (false, spurious) and anti (against, opposed to) can be added as many times as desired. More familiarly, the addition of numerous «great»s to a relative, such as «great-great-great-great-grandparent», can produce words of arbitrary length. In musical notation, an 8192nd note may be called a semihemidemisemihemidemisemihemidemisemiquaver.

Antidisestablishmentarianism is the longest common example of a word formed by agglutinative construction.

Technical terms

A number of scientific naming schemes can be used to generate arbitrarily long words.

The IUPAC nomenclature for organic chemical compounds is open-ended, giving rise to the 189,819-letter chemical name Methionylthreonylthreonyl…isoleucine for the protein also known as titin, which is involved in striated muscle formation. In nature, DNA molecules can be much bigger than protein molecules and therefore potentially be referred to with much longer chemical names. For example, the wheat chromosome 3B contains almost 1 billion base pairs,[22] so the sequence of one of its strands, if written out in full like Adenilyladenilylguanilylcystidylthymidyl…, would be about 8 billion letters long. The longest published word, Acetylseryltyrosylseryliso…serine, referring to the coat protein of a certain strain of tobacco mosaic virus (P03575), is 1,185 letters long, and appeared in the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Abstracts Service in 1964 and 1966.[23] In 1965, the Chemical Abstracts Service overhauled its naming system and started discouraging excessively long names. In 2011, a dictionary broke this record with a 1909-letter word describing the trpA protein (P0A877).[3]

John Horton Conway and Landon Curt Noll developed an open-ended system for naming powers of 10, in which one sexmilliaquingentsexagintillion, coming from the Latin name for 6560, is the name for 103(6560+1) = 1019683. Under the long number scale, it would be 106(6560) = 1039360.

Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis is sometimes cited as the longest binomial name—it is a kind of amphipod. However, this name, proposed by B. Dybowski, was invalidated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature in 1929 after being petitioned by Mary J. Rathbun to take up the case.[24]

Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis is the longest accepted binomial name for an organism. It is a bacterium found in soil collected at Llan­fair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­ (discussed below). Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides is the longest accepted binomial name for any animal, or any organism visible with the naked eye. It is a species of soldier fly.[25] The genus name Parapropalaehoplophorus (a fossil glyptodont, an extinct family of mammals related to armadillos) is two letters longer, but does not contain a similarly long species name.

Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic, at 52 letters, describing the spa waters at Bath, England, is attributed to Dr. Edward Strother (1675–1737).[26] The word is composed of the following elements:

  • Aequeo: equal (Latin, aequo[27])
  • Salino: containing salt (Latin, salinus)
  • Calcalino: calcium (Latin, calx)
  • Ceraceo: waxy (Latin, cera)
  • Aluminoso: alumina (Latin)
  • Cupreo: from «copper»
  • Vitriolic: resembling vitriol

Notable long words

Place names

The longest officially recognized place name in an English-speaking country is Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu (85 letters), which is a hill in New Zealand. The name is in the Māori language. A widely recognized version of the name is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (85 letters), which appears on the signpost at the location (see the photo on this page). In Māori, the digraphs ng and wh are each treated as single letters.

In Canada, the longest place name is Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde, a township in Ontario, at 61 letters or 68 non-space characters.[28]

The 58-letter name Llan­fair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­gogery­chwyrn­drob­wlll­lanty­silio­gogo­goch is the name of a town on Anglesey, an island of Wales. In terms of the traditional Welsh alphabet, the name is only 51 letters long, as certain digraphs in Welsh are considered as single letters, for instance ll, ng and ch. It is generally agreed, however, that this invented name, adopted in the mid-19th century, was contrived solely to be the longest name of any town in Britain. The official name of the place is Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, commonly abbreviated to Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG.

The longest non-contrived place name in the United Kingdom which is a single non-hyphenated word is Cottonshopeburnfoot (19 letters) and the longest which is hyphenated is Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe (29 characters).

The longest place name in the United States (45 letters) is Char­gogga­gogg­man­chau­ggagogg­chau­buna­gunga­maugg, a lake in Webster, Massachusetts. It means «Fishing Place at the Boundaries – Neutral Meeting Grounds» and is sometimes facetiously translated as «you fish your side of the water, I fish my side of the water, nobody fishes the middle». The lake is also known as Webster Lake.[29] The longest hyphenated names in the U.S. are Winchester-on-the-Severn, a town in Maryland, and Washington-on-the-Brazos, a notable place in Texas history. The longest single-word town names in the U.S. are Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania and Mooselookmeguntic, Maine.

The longest official geographical name in Australia is Ma­mungku­kumpu­rang­kunt­junya.[30] It has 26 letters and is a Pitjantjatjara word meaning «where the Devil urinates».[31]

Liechtenstein is the longest country name with single name in English. The second longest country name with single name in English is Turkmenistan. There are longer country names if one includes ones with spaces.

Personal names

Guinness World Records formerly contained a category for longest personal name used.

  • From about 1975 to 1985, the recordholder was Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfe­schlegelstein­hausenberger­dorffvoraltern­waren­gewissenhaft­schaferswessen­schafewaren­wohlgepflege­und­sorgfaltigkeit­beschutzen­von­angreifen­durch­ihrraubgierigfeinde­welche­voraltern­zwolftausend­jahres­vorandieerscheinen­wander­ersteer­dem­enschderraumschiff­gebrauchlicht­als­sein­ursprung­von­kraftgestart­sein­lange­fahrt­hinzwischen­sternartigraum­auf­der­suchenach­diestern­welche­gehabt­bewohnbar­planeten­kreise­drehen­sich­und­wohin­der­neurasse­von­verstandigmen­schlichkeit­konnte­fortplanzen­und­sicher­freuen­anlebens­langlich­freude­und­ruhe­mit­nicht­ein­furcht­vor­angreifen­von­anderer­intelligent­geschopfs­von­hinzwischen­sternartigraum, Senior (746 letters), also known as Wolfe+585, Senior.
  • After 1985 Guinness briefly awarded the record to a newborn girl with a longer name. The category was removed shortly afterward.

Long birth names are often coined in protest of naming laws or for other personal reasons.

  • The naming law in Sweden was challenged by parents Lasse Diding and Elisabeth Hallin, who proposed the given name «Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116» for their child (pronounced [ˈǎlːbɪn], 43 characters), which was rejected by a district court in Halmstad, southern Sweden.

Words with certain characteristics of notable length

  • Schmaltzed and strengthed (10 letters) appear to be the longest monosyllabic words recorded in The Oxford English Dictionary, while scraunched and scroonched appear to be the longest monosyllabic words recorded in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary; but squirrelled (11 letters) is the longest if pronounced as one syllable only (as permitted in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary at squirrel, and in Longman Pronunciation Dictionary). Schtroumpfed (12 letters) was coined by Umberto Eco, while broughammed (11 letters) was coined by William Harmon after broughamed (10 letters) was coined by George Bernard Shaw.
  • Strengths is the longest word in the English language containing only one vowel letter.[32]
  • Euouae, a medieval musical term, is the longest English word consisting only of vowels, and the word with the most consecutive vowels. However, the «word» itself is simply a mnemonic consisting of the vowels to be sung in the phrase «seculorum Amen» at the end of the lesser doxology. (Although u was often used interchangeably with v, and the variant «Evovae» is occasionally used, the v in these cases would still be a vowel.)
  • The longest words with no repeated letters are dermatoglyphics and uncopyrightable.[33]
  • The longest word whose letters are in alphabetical order is the eight-letter Aegilops, a grass genus. However, this is arguably a proper noun. There are several six-letter English words with their letters in alphabetical order, including abhors, almost, begins, biopsy, chimps and chintz.[34] There are few 7-letter words, such as «billowy» and «beefily». The longest words whose letters are in reverse alphabetical order are sponged, wronged and trollied.
  • The longest words recorded in OED with each vowel only once, and in order, are abstemiously, affectiously, and tragediously (OED). Fracedinously and gravedinously (constructed from adjectives in OED) have thirteen letters; Gadspreciously, constructed from Gadsprecious (in OED), has fourteen letters. Facetiously is among the few other words directly attested in OED with single occurrences of all six vowels (counting y as a vowel).
  • The longest single palindromic word in English is rotavator, another name for a rotary tiller for breaking and aerating soil.

Typed words

  • The longest words typable with only the left hand using conventional hand placement on a QWERTY keyboard are tesseradecades, aftercataracts, dereverberated, dereverberates[35] and the more common but sometimes hyphenated sweaterdresses.[34] Using the right hand alone, the longest word that can be typed is johnny-jump-up, or, excluding hyphens, monimolimnion[36] and phyllophyllin.
  • The longest English word typable using only the top row of letters has 11 letters: rupturewort. The word teetertotter (used in North American English) is longer at 12 letters, although it is usually spelled with a hyphen.
  • The longest using only the middle row is shakalshas (10 letters). Nine-letter words include flagfalls; eight-letter words include galahads and alfalfas.
  • Since the bottom row contains no vowels, no standard words can be formed. [37]
  • The longest words typable by alternating left and right hands are antiskepticism and leucocytozoans respectively.[34]
  • On a Dvorak keyboard, the longest «left-handed» words are epopoeia, jipijapa, peekapoo, and quiaquia.[38] Other such long words are papaya, Kikuyu, opaque, and upkeep.[39] Kikuyu is typed entirely with the index finger, and so the longest one-fingered word on the Dvorak keyboard. There are no vowels on the right-hand side, and so the longest «right-handed» word is crwths.

See also

  • Lipogram
  • List of long species names
  • List of the longest English words with one syllable
  • Longest English sentence
  • Longest word in French
  • Longest word in Romanian
  • Longest word in Spanish
  • Longest word in Turkish
  • Number of words in English
  • Scriptio continua
  • Sesquipedalianism
  • Donau­dampf­schiffahrts­elektrizitäten­haupt­betriebs­werk­bau­unter­beamten­gesellschaft, longest published word in German

References

  1. ^ «Reading The Longest English Word (190,000 Characters)». YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-11-10. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  2. ^ «World’s longest word takes 3.5 hours to pronounce». CW39 Houston. 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  3. ^ a b Colista Moore (2011). Student’s Dictionary. p. 524. ISBN 978-1-934669-21-1.
  4. ^ see separate article Lopado…pterygon
  5. ^ Donald McFarlan; Norris Dewar McWhirter; David A. Boeh (1989). Guinness book of world records: 1990. Sterling. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-8069-5790-6.
  6. ^ a b Coined around 1935 to be the longest word; press reports on puzzle league members legitimized it somewhat. First appeared in the MWNID supplement, 1939. Today OED and several others list it, but citations are almost always as «longest word». More detail at pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
  7. ^ «Merriam Webster: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious».
  8. ^ «What is the longest English word?». AskOxford. Archived from the original on 2008-10-22. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  9. ^ «What is the longest English word?». oxforddictionaries.com.[dead link]
  10. ^ «Merriam Webster: «Antidisestablishmentarianism is not in the dictionary.»«.
  11. ^ «Cool, Strange, and Interesting Facts,» fact 99. InnocentEnglish.com. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  12. ^ «pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – definition of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis in English from the Oxford dictionary». oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19.
  13. ^ «The Longest Word in the Dictionary» (Video). Ask the Editor. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 November 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  14. ^ «Floccinaucinihilipilification» by Michael Quinion World Wide Words Archived 2006-08-21 at the Wayback Machine;
  15. ^ The Guinness Book of Records, in its 1992 and previous editions, declared the longest real word in the English language to be floccinaucinihilipilification. More recent editions of the book have acknowledged pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. What is the longest English word? — Oxford Dictionaries Online Archived 2006-08-26 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator Robert Byrd Discussion between Sen. Moynihan and Sen. Byrd «Mr. President, may I say to the distinguished Senator from New York, I used that word on the Senate floor myself 2 or 3 years ago. I cannot remember just when or what the occasion was, but I used it on that occasion to indicate that whatever it was I was discussing it was something like a mere trifle or nothing really being of moment.» Congressional Record June 17, 1991, p. S7887, and at the White House by Bill Clinton’s press secretary Mike McCurry, albeit sarcastically. December 6, 1995, White House Press Briefing in discussing Congressional Budget Office estimates and assumptions: «But if you – as a practical matter of estimating the economy, the difference is not great. There’s a little bit of floccinaucinihilipilification going on here.»
  17. ^ Eckler, R. Making the Alphabet Dance, p 252, 1996.
  18. ^ «Longest Common Words – Modern». Maltron.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  19. ^ «Glossary of W3C Jargon». World Wide Web Consortium. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
  20. ^ «Origin of the Abbreviation I18n». Archived from the original on 2014-06-27.
  21. ^ «Localization vs. Internationalization». World Wide Web Consortium. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03.
  22. ^ Paux et al. (2008) Science, Vol. 322 (5898) 101-104. A Physical Map of the 1-Gigabase Bread Wheat Chromosome 3B Paux, Etienne; Sourdille, Pierre; Salse, Jérôme; Saintenac, Cyrille; Choulet, Frédéric; Leroy, Philippe; Korol, Abraham; Michalak, Monika; Kianian, Shahryar; Spielmeyer, Wolfgang; Lagudah, Evans; Somers, Daryl; Kilian, Andrzej; Alaux, Michael; Vautrin, Sonia; Bergès, Hélène; Eversole, Kellye; Appels, Rudi; Safar, Jan; Simkova, Hana; Dolezel, Jaroslav; Bernard, Michel; Feuillet, Catherine (2008). «A Physical Map of the 1-Gigabase Bread Wheat Chromosome 3B». Science. 322 (5898): 101–104. Bibcode:2008Sci…322..101P. doi:10.1126/science.1161847. PMID 18832645. S2CID 27686615. Archived from the original on 2015-09-03. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  23. ^ Chemical Abstracts Formula Index, Jan.-June 1964, Page 967F; Chemical Abstracts 7th Coll. Formulas, C23H32-Z, 56-65, 1962–1966, Page 6717F
  24. ^ «Opinion 105. Dybowski’s (1926) Names of Crustacea Suppressed». Opinions Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: Opinions 105 to 114. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. 73. 1929. pp. 1–3. hdl:10088/23619. BHL page 8911139.
  25. ^ rjk. «World’s longest name of an animal. Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides Stratiomyid Fly Soldier Fly». thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  26. ^ cited in some editions of the Guinness Book of Records as the longest word in English, see Askoxford.com on the longest English word
  27. ^ [1][dead link]
  28. ^ «GeoNames Government of Canada site». Archived from the original on 2009-02-06.
  29. ^ Belluck, Pam (2004-11-20). «What’s the Name of That Lake? It’s Hard to Say». The New York Times.
  30. ^ «Geoscience Australia Gazetteer». Archived from the original on 2007-10-01.
  31. ^ «South Australian State Gazetteer». Archived from the original on 2007-10-01.
  32. ^ «Guinness Records».
  33. ^ «Longest Word Without Repeating Letters». December 2014.
  34. ^ a b c «Typewriter Words». Questrel.com. Archived from the original on 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  35. ^ «Science Links Japan | Two Unique Aftercataracts Requiring Surgical Removal». Sciencelinks.jp. 2009-03-18. Archived from the original on 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  36. ^ «Dictionary entry for monimolimnion, a word that, at 13 letters, is longer than any of the words linked in the source above». Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  37. ^ «Word Records». Fun-with-words.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  38. ^ «Typewriter Words». Wordnik.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  39. ^ «The Dvorak Keyboard and You». Theworldofstuff.com. Archived from the original on 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2010-08-22.

External links

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  • A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia – Long words
    • Long words (chemical names)
    • Long words (place names)
  • What is the longest English word?, AskOxford.com «Ask the Experts»
  • What is the Longest Word?, Fun-With-Words.com
  • Full chemical name of titin.
  • Taxonomy of Wordplay

Have you ever wondered what the longest English word in the world is? Or how many letters does such a word contain? The identity of the longest word in English language could differ by defining a word differently. It could be a notable long word like a place name/personal name or creations of long words such as a coinage/technical term.

What is the Longest Word in the English Language?

What is the longest word in the world? Long words consisting of hundreds of thousands of letters only exist in alphabetic languages like English. For character-based languages like Chinese, a word is made up of one or a few characters, making their length notably limited. 

Arbitrary

The length of the English word is most commonly based on orthography and the total number of its written letters. There’s no definite answer to what the world’s longest word is. To give a particularly vivid example, the word “great-great-great-…great-great-grandparent” contains an arbitrary amount of letters, depending on how many “-great”s are attached to the root word “parent.” In such case, no other English word can beat this word in terms of the counting numbers of the written letters because you can add as many “-great”s as you like to extend the length. 

Chemical

When it comes to the biggest word in the world by magnitude, the word for the chemical composition of titin (Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl…isoleucine) takes the crown with 189,819 letters. Yes, this long word looks like the text produced by someone who had accidentally sat on the keyboard for a considerable amount of time. If you have three hours to spare and the insane patience, you can try to say the entire word. 

Its incredible length and the controversy over whether it should be considered a word have hindered this technical term for the largest known protein from entering the dictionary. 

The second longest word in English is Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl…serine with 1,909 letters. Compared to the longest word in English, this chemical term of E coli TrpA (P0A877) is luckier since it is the longest published word in English, though not in a dictionary.

Ten Longest English Words in the Dictionary

The length of a word is measured by the number of its written letters. In the following passage, we will list the ten longest words in the English dictionaries according to their length. Depending on their usage and popularity, these words are listed in one or more of the major dictionaries. 

Forty-five Letters

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, the synonym for the disease silicosis, is the longest word in the most trusted English dictionaries like the Webster’s, Oxford, Chambers, and Random House with 45 letters. This medical term was coined in 1935 and describes the occupational lung disease caused by breathing in crystalline silica dust. Interestingly, this word was purposely designed to invent the then-new longest word. Consequently, the Oxford English Dictionary describes it as a factitious word. 

Thirty-seven Letters

The second longest word in the English dictionary is the 37-letters-long word hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies, a surgical term in Gould’s Medical Dictionary that describes it as the creation of a link between a hepatic and the gall bladder and between the gall bladder and the intestine.

Thirty-four Letters

The third longest word published in the English dictionary is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with 34 letters. It is a song and single by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke from the Disney musical film Mary Poppins in 1964. 

Thirty Letters

The adjective hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian is 30 letters long, ranking fourth on our list of the longest English words in the dictionary. Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words defines it as of/pertaining to an extremely long word.  

Twenty-nine Letters

The word floccinaucinihilipilification comes fifth with 29 letters. Dating back to 1741, it is the longest word in the 1st edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records refers to it as the longest real word. This uncountable noun is the act/habit of regarding something as worthless/unimportant. Interestingly, the common English letter E doesn’t occur in this word, while the letter I appears nine times in total. 

Twenty-eight Letters

The sixth longest word in the English dictionary is antidisestablishmentarianism, with 28 letters. It refers to a political philosophy that opposes the withdrawal of state recognition or support from its national Church. This word is considered one the most popular longest words in English in the past decades. 

Twenty-seven Letters

Honorificabilitudinitatibus, the synonym for honorableness, comes seventh on the long English words list, with two other 27-letters-long words being electroencephalographically and antitransubstantiationalist. It means the state of being able to achieve honors. Honorificabilitudinitatibus first appeared as an English word in 1599 and entered Bailey’s Dictionary in 1721 as the longest word in English back then. Additionally, it is the longest English word Shakespeare ever used in his works. 

Electroencephalographically is tied for the seventh longest word in English dictionary, meaning by means of electroencephalography, an apparatus that detects electrical potentials on the scalp and records brain waves. It is the longest unhyphenated word listed in the 10th edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary together with the chemical term ethylenediaminetetraacetate, a salt of Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid.

Another 27-letter word is antitransubstantiationalist, a religious term that describes someone who disagrees that the consecrated bread and wine can actually change into the body and blood of Christ. 

Translating the Longest Word in English

The longest word in the English language can come in many forms. It could be Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, the 85-letters-long place name for a hill near the town of Porangahau in New Zealand. Or it could be Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Sr., the longest personal name ever used that was made up of 747 characters. Whether it’s the medical word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis or other incredibly long chemical terms, translating such words will require in-country/industry specific linguists who can guarantee the accuracy of its translations based on their linguistic, cultural, and technical knowledge of the subject matter. 

Getting the correct pronunciation of the longest word in English is a Herculean task per se. Not to mention translating it right. That’s why you need to work with professionals. If you need such experts to handle the translation of just about any content from and into English or any other language in the matter, Wordspath is the go-to option! Contact us to further discuss your linguistic needs by hitting the button below.

Conclusion

The longest word in English is not always the same one. As time goes by, new long words will be coined and outrank the old ones on the long words list. In the great world where wonders never cease, which long word lives up to the name of the world’s longest word is really up to your preference. 

On November 10, 2021   /   Language Translation, Localization, Translation  

What are the longest – biggest words in English?

biggest words

(Last Updated On: November 10, 2021)

Language is the heritage of human history. Since prehistoric times, people have been using language as a source of communication. Without proper language, there would be no exchange of ideas, messages, and comments. Till now, all the development that we witness in the Modern world is because of sharing of brilliant ideas. All the modern inventions, from basic cooking skills to developing a rocket engine, are a contribution of language. No proper language means that ideas of brilliant minds would go in vain if there’s no guidance to work over them.

There have been more than 35000 languages since the beginning of time. There are only 5000 living languages currently, some of which are on the verge of extinction. As most ancient languages disappeared in the pages of history, the human race does not know much about it. We do not even know if they had proper grammar rules or something. Among the remaining languages, that have managed to survive the harshness of history, let’s consider English. English is the World’s most spoken language. Thus, It is also a language with one of the largest vocabularies in the world.

How many words exactly does the English Language contain? The second edition of the current 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary has about 171,476 words in its current use. 171,476 are quite a lot of words. A human being cannot memorize this much amount of words, let alone the biggest words. Among these hundreds of thousands of words, there are some words that are long enough for a normal person to memorize. Though most of these lengthy words are not in common use that much, you will still find it intriguing to what even are such words and what do mean.

biggest words

long words

Outset

Consonants together with verbs form a word. The length of a word depends on the number of letters it contains. Lengthy words are very uncommon in daily use, though there are some scientific terms that are extremely lengthy. Similarly, there are also some lengthy adjectives and nouns that people use rarely. Instead, they use the synonyms of these words. Let us see what are these words.

What are the biggest words in English?

Here are some of the biggest or you can say lengthiest words in the English language. Accordingly, We have written them down along with their meanings so that it would be easier for you to learn them.

  • Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: This word contains 36 letters. It is one of the longest words in the dictionary. It is the name for a phobia of long words.
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: This word has 34 letters. People consider it the best word among other lengthy words. The film Mary Poppins introduced this word. It means you have got something to say while having nothing to say.
  • Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism: This word contains 30 letters. It is A relatively mild form of pseudohypoparathyroidism that normal levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood characterize.
  • Floccinaucinihilipilification: This word is 29 letters long. It is the longest non-technical word that not all directories recognize, that including the Merriam-Webster dictionary. According to different sources, it is the act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant, of having no value, and being worthless.
  • Antidisestablishmentarianism: This term is 28 letters long. It is the name of an ex-political movement of 19th century Britain that demanded to separate church and state from each other.
  • Honorificabilitudinitatibus: This word has 27 letters. It is the longest word in all of Shakespeare’s works. Also, It is the longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels.
  • Thyroparathyroidectomized: This word is 25 letters long. It is a medical term that defines the excision of the thyroid and parathyroid glands.
  • Dichlorodifluoromethane: This word is 23 letters long. It is the name of the chemical compound, chlorofluoromethane CF2Cl2.
  • Incomprehensibilities: This word has 21 letters. It means things that are impossible to comprehend.

The Longest Word in English

The longest word in English is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It contains 45 letters, among which 20 of them are verbs while the remaining 25 letters are consonants. It is the name of lung disease that the inhalation of silica or quartz dust causes. This word contains 5 different parts among which “pneumono” means lungs or anything related to lungs. Similarly, the part “ultramicroscopic” means something so small that can only be seen with a microscope. Lastly, the remaining three parts “silico” means silica, “volcano” means something volcanic, and the word “coniosis” means a disease that the dust causes. The origins of this word trace back to New Latin. It is a disease that the inhalation of fine volcanic ash or sand dust causes. I recommend you to know What are the 10 longest words in English?

Other Languages Having Biggest Words

It is not just the English language that has the lengthiest words. There are some other languages having words so long that a beginner may not end up spelling them right. We have enlisted these languages below:

  • Basque
  • Esperanto
  • Estonian
  • Finnish
  • Ojibwe
  • Mongolian
  • Hungarian
  • Korean

longest words in english

big words

The Use of Lengthy Words

If you are a reader and have considerable experience reading books, interviews, articles, and blog spots, you will acknowledge that these writings do not contain lengthy words. The lengthy words that we have discussed above, have very low usage. Furthermore, they are not common English words. Most of these lengthy words are medical terms or names of medical conditions that people witness rarely. To be honest, No one would ask you to spell a lung disease called pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is caused by inhalation of silica or quartz dust. Nevertheless, we will suggest you learn some lengthy words as an adventure to increase your vocabulary.

The Impact of Lengthy Words in Translation

Most writings do not contain lengthy words as it affects their readability. Writers know that people despise such lengthy words. Their lives are so busy. Consequently, they do not care to consider reading such words. As most of these words are the names of medical conditions, disorders, and chemical compounds, they do not need to be translated. People do not translate proper nouns but if it is some verb or an adjective such as incomprehensible, it requires translation. Also, when dealing with translations, consider not hurrying as you might end up getting some lengthy words misspelled.

How to spell lengthy words?

Spelling lengthy words might feel like pulling a sword from a stone to you but not if you are adventurous. Likewise, there is a particular way to do everything, there is also a way to learn lengthy words and their meanings. Learning their meanings is of no use if you do know how to spell them. The main challenge in learning lengthy words is their spelling. Therefore, Slight disorganization in spellings can make the whole word incorrect. Further, the key to learning lengthy words is breaking them into smaller parts. You can make fragments of these words and learn them in order. Subsequently, this would make the process easier for you.

Wind-up

Today’s world is a busy place. Hence, People especially the younger generation rarely get the time for themselves so it is nothing new that they go for shortcuts. Since the advent of technology and lives becoming busier, people try to show greater efficiency by saving time even if it’s a few minutes. It is quite obvious that people would not go for choosing the above-discussed lengthy words in their conversations and documents.

They will prefer using short words in documents to increase their readability and use slang in their conversations to avoid lengthy texts and save time. Also, these words are very less frequently used. Nevertheless, it is not quite hard to learn these words just in case, you would want to flex your vocabulary over your friends. Having such words learned will probably get others impressed by you.

biggest words in English

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Contents

  • 1 What is the longest word in the world that takes 3 hours to say?
  • 2 What is the longest word 189 819?
  • 3 Is there a word longer than Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?
  • 4 What is the full word of Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl?
  • 5 Which word takes 3.5 hours to say?
  • 6 Is there a word with 1000 letters?
  • 7 Is there a word with 1909 letters?
  • 8 How do you pronounce Nonanonacontanonactanonaliagon?
  • 9 What is the shortest word in English?
  • 10 Is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious a real word in the English dictionary?
  • 11 What’s the longest word in Japanese?
  • 12 Is irregardless a real word?
  • 13 What is the longest word for beautiful?
  • 14 What is the opposite of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
  • 15 Who created supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
  • 16 What is big English word?
  • 17 What is an 8 letter word?
  • 18 What starts with P and ends with E?
  • 19 Can a person be scintillating?
  • 20 What begins with T finishes with T and has T in it?
  • 21 What are the most common 3 letter words?

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.

The word is 189,819 letters long. It’s actually the name of a giant protein called Titin. Proteins are usually named by mashing-up the names of the chemicals making them. And since Titin is the largest protein ever discovered, its name had to be equally as large.

Is there a word longer than Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?

The longest words in the dictionary are: antidisestablishmentarianism – opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England – 28 letters. floccinaucinihilipilification – the estimation of something as worthless – 29 letters. pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – a supposed lung disease – 45 letters.

What is the full word of Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl?

LONGEST ENGLISH WORD:Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl… isoleucine (189,819 letters) If we’re talking chemistry, the longest chemical name is 189,819 letters long. It is the chemical name for titin, a giant filamentous protein essential to the structure, development, and elasticity of muscle.

Which word takes 3.5 hours to say?

The answer is three-and-a-half hours! This word is the chemical name for titin (aka connectin) – a human protein. Titin is a giant protein that functions as a molecular spring which is responsible for the passive elasticity of muscle.

Is there a word with 1000 letters?

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

It’s a technical word referring to the lung disease more commonly known as silicosis.

Is there a word with 1909 letters?

serine, a tryptophan synthetase protein, as the longest published word at 1,909 letters.

How do you pronounce Nonanonacontanonactanonaliagon?

  1. Phonetic spelling of nonanonacontanonactanonaliagon. Nona-nona-con-ta-nona-act-a-nona-lily-a-gon. Nonanonacontananaaactananalilliagon. …
  2. Meanings for nonanonacontanonactanonaliagon. it is a shape with 9999 sides.
  3. Examples of in a sentence. the nonanonacontanonactanonaliagon was in the color red, in carly’s book.

What is the shortest word in English?

Eunoia, at six letters long, is the shortest word in the English language that contains all five main vowels. Seven letter words with this property include adoulie, douleia, eucosia, eulogia, eunomia, eutopia, miaoued, moineau, sequoia, and suoidea. (The scientific name iouea is a genus of Cretaceous fossil sponges.)

Is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious a real word in the English dictionary?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as “a nonsense word, originally used esp. by children, and typically expressing excited approbation: fantastic, fabulous”, while Dictionary.com says it is “used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English.”

What’s the longest word in Japanese?

toragahitowokamoutosurutokinounarinow

A funny phrase in japanese is “toragahitowokamoutosurutokinounarinow” 虎が人を噛もうとするときのうなり声。 It is 37 letters long and is comprised of a 17 syllables. It is a very odd phrase, as it is defined as “the growl a tiger makes when it is about to about to bite someone”.

Is irregardless a real word?

Merriam-Webster defines irregardless as “nonstandard” but meaning the same as “regardless.” “Many people find irregardless to be a nonsensical word, as the ir- prefix usually functions to indicates negation; however, in this case it appears to function as an intensifier,” the dictionary writes.

What is the longest word for beautiful?

What does pulchritudinous mean? Pulchritudinous is an adjective that means physically beautiful or attractive.

What is the opposite of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

Opposite of very good in standard or quality. atrocious. awful. execrable. lousy.

Who created supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

The song was written by the Sherman Brothers, and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. It also appears in the stage show version of Mary Poppins. The writers of the Oxford English Dictionary think that the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was first used in the 1940s.

What is big English word?

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 an 8 letter word?

The Most Common Eight-Letter Words

These common eight-letter words are ABSOLUTE, MOUNTAIN, and SENTENCE. All of these are excellent bingos, with SENTENCE and MOUNTAIN using the most common letters in the game.

What starts with P and ends with E?

“Post Office” starts with ‘P’, ends with ‘E’ and has a million letters in it.

Can a person be scintillating?

If you say someone is scintillating, then they are clever — people want to listen to them. This is a word often used sarcastically. If someone is boring, you might say “Well, that was scintillating,” while rolling your eyes.

What begins with T finishes with T and has T in it?

What begins with T ends with T and has T in it?

  • Answer 1: A tea pot.
  • Answer 2: A clock.
  • Answer 3: Mirror.
  • Answer 4: A hole.
  • Answer 5: Charcoal.

What are the most common 3 letter words?

The most common three-letter words are the, and, are,for, not, but, had, has, was, all, any, one, man, out, you, his, her, and can. The most common four-letter words are that, with, have, this, will, your, from, they, want, been, good, much, some, and very.

Longest words in the world

The top five longest words in the world

01.07.2021

International Business

Did you know that the longest word in the world contains 190,000 letters? The following  is our list of the five longest words in the world:

  1. An English word of 189, 819 letters 

The longest word in the world is the English term: «methionylthreonylthreonyl(…)isoleucine».

This term, which has no less than 189, 819 letters, is the chemical name of the largest protein: titin. It would take three hours to recite it from beginning to end! 

  1. A Sanskrit word of 195 characters

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-तदीय-विमल-विलोचन-मयूख-रेखापसारित-पिपासायास-पथिक-लोकान् 

The second longest word in the world is a 195-character Sanskrit word (equivalent to 428 letters in the Latin alphabet).

It is a word that has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest word in the world. It first appeared in the 16th century in a book written by Queen Tirumalãmbã, and is actually a description of a region in India called Tamil Nadu.

  1. An Afrikaans word of 136 letters

The third longest word is this 136-letter Afrikaans word:

«Tweedehandsemotorverkoopsmannevakbondstakingsvergaderingsameroeperstoespra-akskrywerspersverklaringuitreikingsmediakonferensieaankondiging”

Roughly translated, it means ‘a press conference on a speech by a trade union official at a used car dealership about a strike’.

Afrikaans is a Germanic language derived from Dutch, and is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa.

  1. A New Zealand word with 85 letters

This is the fourth longest word in the world:

«Taumatawhakatangihangakoauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu”

This is actually the name of a hill in New Zealand. Its translation is: «The peak where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the surveyor, the mountain climber, the walker who travelled here, played his flute to his beloved

Consisting of 85 letters, this word is the longest place name in the world in the Latin alphabet. It has also been included in the Guinness Book of Records.

  1. An Icelandic word with 64 letters

«Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur»  

This Icelandic word of 64 letters is the fifth longest in the world. It is literally translated as follows: 

«A ring on a key ring for the outer door of the tool shed used by road maintenance workers on Vaðlaheiði hill.”

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Answers to your questions about the longest words in the world

The longest French word officially recognised by the Académie française is «anticonstitutionnellement», which consists of 25 letters. It is, in other words, the longest word in the French dictionary.

«Rinderkennzeichnungsfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz» is the longest word in the German language with 79 letters.

The longest English word is also the longest word in the world, with almost 190,000 letters. It is the chemical name for titin, the largest protein known. The longest word in the English dictionary however, is the 45-letter word «pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis», which refers to a lung disease. Doctors call it «P45».

About the author

The editorial team, which is led by the founder of the group to which Alphatrad UK belongs, consists of experts who specialise in language services. Our goal is to regularly provide you with articles related to translation and language services, which will help you with your language services’ needs.

How many variations of English do you think there are, two, maybe three? Think again. English is a truly global language, and linguists argue there are 100s of different English varieties around the world. The two most well-known varieties are arguably British English and Standard American English. However, the list of countries where English is recognised as an official language may be longer than you think!

World Englishes meaning

The term World Englishes is used to describe all the different varieties of English that exist worldwide. As English travels around the world, it changes and develops in different ways to fulfil the needs of the people who use it.

English is currently spoken by an estimated 1.35 billion people, meaning almost 20% of the world currently speaks English. However, the English used worldwide can differ in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and accent. Therefore, it’s best to think of the English language as a plural, ie. Englishes.

Have you ever heard of Singlish (Singaporean English), Indian English or Caribbean English? These are just a few official varieties of English with some unique features.

Because of British colonialism and British and American imperialism, the English language spread around the world. Communities adopted and adapted the language to suit their needs, resulting in the creation of hundreds of new varieties of English. Today, English continues to spread worldwide thanks to globalisation, its use as a lingua franca, and its prominence on the internet.

Lingua franca = A language used as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

To understand the concept of World Englishes, we must first look at the history of English and how it has travelled around the world.

A brief history of English

The origins of the English language can be traced all the way back to the fifth century, when Germanic tribes invaded Britain and Old English was formed. In 1066, the Normans invaded Britain, bringing a form of French that helped shape what we now refer to as Middle English. The formation of Modern English as we know it today is due to two important factors: the advent of modern printing and colonialism in the 16th century. Britain’s first colonial ‘adventure’ brought English to the New World (the Americas, Australasia, and South Africa).

As you can imagine, the English language changed and adapted dramatically throughout this time. If you picked up an English book from the 13th century today, how likely do you think it would be that you would be able to read it?

British colonisation and imperialism continued to spread throughout the world, bringing English to Africa, South and Southeast Asia, The Caribbean, and the South Pacific Islands. As the language travelled, it mixed with other local languages creating new varieties of English, such as pidgins and creoles.

Pidgins and Creoles — A pidgin is a language variety that arises when people who do not speak the same native language communicate with each other. Pidgins are typically a simplified form of a language, with a smaller vocabulary and basic grammar. When a pidgin develops into a more complex language with its own syntax and grammar, it becomes a creole. Common English-based creoles include Jamaican Patois, Gullah (from islands in the USA), and Singlish (Singaporean English). Most English-based creoles were formed due to British colonisation and the transatlantic slave trade.

By the early 20th century, Britain’s political, economic, and industrial powers began to lessen, and the USA emerged as a political and economic superpower. The USA’s prominence and power helped spread English further around the world. As the world started working together via international organisations, such as the United Nations, English was chosen as one of the world’s official working languages. The USA’s cultural prominence also helped spread English through movies, advertisements, music, and broadcasting.

The final spread of English is primarily thanks to the internet. The invention of the internet is widely accredited to two American men, so naturally, the language of the internet is English. By the mid-1990s, an estimated 80% of the internet’s content was English; however, that number sits closer to 50% today.

Today, English is recognised as an official language in 67 different countries. The status of the language in each country can vary greatly, with some countries using English purely for administrative and educational purposes and others using it as their official majority language.

Kachru’s three circles of English

Braj Kachru (1932-2016) was an Indian linguist who studied the global spread of English and coined the term ‘World Englishes’.

In 1985, Kachru created his three circles of English model, which highlights the usage and status of English worldwide. The model comprises three concentric circles: the inner circle, the outer circle, and the expanding circle.

Let’s take a closer look at each circle.

Inner circle

The inner circle comprises the countries where English is used as a first language, such as the UK, Ireland, The USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The citizens of these countries are typically considered to be native English speakers.

Kachru considers these countries to be norm-providing, meaning the norms of the English language are created here.

Outer circle

The outer circle typically comprises countries that were once British colonies or had British colonial relations. English was brought to these countries during colonial rule and was usually used for administrative duties, education, socialising, and within government sectors. These countries include India, Singapore, Malaysia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and others.

English typically isn’t the first language in these countries but continues to be used as an important language in various different ways. English may be an official second language, used as the medium of instruction in education, or used as the ‘working language’ (the chosen language when doing business).

Kachru considers these countries norm-developing, meaning the outer-circle countries further expand upon the norms developed within the inner-circle countries.

Expanding circle

The expanding circle comprises pretty much the rest of the world! These are countries that have no immediate colonial or historical ties with English but still use it to some extent as a tool for communication. English is typically used as a foreign language or as a lingua franca.

Kachru considers these countries to be norm-dependent, meaning that they look to the inner and outer circles to learn how to speak English and generally don’t develop their own ‘Englishes’.

World Englishes Image of Kachru's three circles of English model StudySmarterFig. 1 — Kachru’s Three Circles of English Model.

Criticisms of Kachru’s three circles of English

Although Kachru’s model has been highly influential in understanding the global spread of English, it has been met with several criticisms and has been the subject of many debates.

Firstly, the model has been criticised for being oversimplistic and too geographically bound. In a globalised world, it is becoming increasingly challenging to define people and the languages they speak in this way.

The second issue is with the status of English within the outer-circle countries. English has been present within some inner-circle countries for almost 200 hundred years, and has citizens who speak English as their first language. It could therefore be argued that they are also native English speakers.

Finally, due to English being used as a lingua franca across the expanding circle countries, new varieties of English are emerging, such as Chinglish (Chinese English) and Euro English (a term for the Englishes used across Europe). This suggests that the expanding circle countries are no longer wholly norm-dependent and are developing their own varieties of English.

World Englishes: examples

Strevens’ world map of Englishes shows that all varieties of English can be traced back to either British English (BrE) or American English (AmE), making them two of the most influential varieties of English.

However, the UK and the USA are certainly not the only countries where English is spoken. Let’s look at a list of some of the most significant countries that use English as an official language.

Europe

  • The UK

  • The Republic of Ireland

  • Malta

North America

  • The USA

  • Canada

The Caribbean

  • Jamaica

  • Barbados

  • Trinidad and Tobago

  • Bahamas

  • Guyana

Africa

  • South Africa

  • Nigeria

  • Cameroon

  • Kenya

  • Zimbabwe

  • Ghana

  • Rwanda

  • Sudan

  • Botswana

  • Ethiopia

Asia

  • India

  • Pakistan

  • Singapore

  • Philippines

  • Sri Lanka

  • Malaysia

  • Brunei

  • Myanmar

Oceania

  • Australia

  • New Zealand

  • Papua New Guinea

  • Fiji

  • Samoa

  • Tonga

  • Solomon Islands

  • Micronesia

  • Vanuatu

  • Kiribati

English continues to spread, evolve, and adapt daily, and this is no complete list of all the World Englishes. In fact, it is almost impossible to say how many varieties of English there are as linguists have long debated over how to define them.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most prominent world Englishes.

British English (BrE)

British English is the term used to describe all the varieties of English that exist in the UK. These varieties are typically broken down into dialects (a language variety unique to a specific geographical location). When you think of how ‘standard’ British English sounds, you’re likely thinking of Received Pronunciation (RP). RP is arguably the most well-known British accent because of its prominence in the media and its usage by famous figures, such as the Queen. RP is typically considered the standard accent of someone from London or the Southeast of England; however, it isn’t actually a regional dialect, and it’s not always possible to tell where someone is from when they use RP.

Dialects in the UK include Welsh English, Scots, and Hiberno-English (not to be confused with the languages Welsh, Gaelic, and Irish). These are all varieties of English that have been heavily influenced by the languages spoken in their respective countries, resulting in their own pronunciation, grammar, and lexicon.

Take a look at some of these Scots phrases. Do you know what any of them mean?

  • Dinnae ken.
  • Haud yer wheesht.
  • Aye, a wee bit.

Answers:

  • I don’t know.
  • Be quiet.
  • Yes, a little bit.

American English (AmE)

American English is the name given to the set of English varieties that exist across North America (mainly the USA and Canada).

In the 17th century, the British colonised the Americas, bringing the English language with them. Since then, the USA and Canada have seen people from all over the world arriving on its shores, from Irish immigrants to enslaved Africans, bringing with them their own languages; these have undoubtedly influenced standard American English as we know it today.

American English is often compared to British English, and today, we can see many variations between the two, including accent, lexicon, and grammar.

Some common differences include:

  • The accent. American English is considered a rhotic accent (meaning they pronounce the /r/ sound), while British English is regarded as a non-rhotic accent (meaning /r/ sounds after vowels and at the end of words are often omitted).

  • Many British English words come from French roots, whereas other languages, such as Spanish, have influenced some American English words.

  • American English is more likely to drop suffixes, ie. skim milk (AmE) vs skimmed milk (BrE) and barbershop (AmE) vs Barber’s shop (BrE).

  • With compound nouns, British English tends to use the gerund form, whereas American English uses the infinitive form, ie jump rope (AmE) vs skipping rope (BrE) and sailboat (AmE) vs sailing boat (BrE).

  • The spelling of words can also differ. American English tends to use the letter ‘z’ rather than ‘s’, ie., standardized (AmE) vs standardised (BrE). Some letters are also dropped in American English, ie. colour (BrE) vs color (AmE).

South Asian English (SAE)

South Asian English (sometimes called Indian-English) is an umbrella term for the varieties of English used in countries across South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and others.

English was introduced to the Indian sub-continent in the early 17th century and subsequently reinforced due to Britain’s colonisation and long-term rule of the country. Although India gained its independence in 1947, English is still used as the language of government, education, and business, and is the country’s lingua franca. Today, an estimated 125 million Indians speak English, making it the world’s second-largest English-speaking country.

A popular variety of South Asian English is ‘Hinglish’ (A mix of Hindi and English). Hinglish typically adds English words to Hindi; however, the meanings can change and develop over time.

Here are some examples of Hinglish words:

  • Stadium — a man’s hairstyle that has a large bald spot.
  • Would-be — a fiance
  • Airdash — to hurry
  • Prepone — to bring a meeting or engagement forward
  • Glassi — thirsty

World Englishes Image of stadium hairstyle StudySmarterFig. 2 — Hinglish word ‘stadium.’

Britain didn’t just influence Hindi; it was a bit more of a two-way street, and many of the words that we use in English today came from Hindi. In the Oxford English dictionary, there are around 900 words of Indian origin; here are some examples: Pyjamas, dungarees, shampoo, bangle, yoga, jungle, cot, bungalow.

African English (AfrE)

Africa is one of the most linguistically diverse continents, and the term African English can cover English spoken anywhere within it, from Egypt to South Africa. However, the term ‘African English’ is typically reserved for Black Africa, and is divided into West African English, East African English, and South African English. Today, 27 countries in Africa recognise English as an official language, most of which are ex-British colonies.

West African Pidgin English (WAPE) is a pidgin influenced by English and a variety of local African languages. WAPE originated as a language of commerce used between the British and African slave traders during the time of the transatlantic slave trade. Today, it is used by an estimated 75 million people across Nigeria, Ghana, Siera Leone, and Liberia. A key characteristic of WAPE is the way tenses and aspects are formed. When speaking in different tenses, the verbs remain uninflected (this means the verbs don’t change ie. walk -walked — walking). Instead, different words are used to highlight the tense and aspect.

Let’s look at some examples:

  • The word ben indicates the past tense — ‘A ben left’ = ‘I left’
  • The word don (derived from the English word done) indicates the present perfect tense — ‘A don it’ = ‘I have eaten’
  • The word go indicates the future tense — ‘A go Kom’ = ‘ I will come’

South African English is one of the most prominent varieties of African English. English has been in South Africa since the British arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. However, it is not the only official language in the region. There are 11 official languages recognised in South Africa, including English, Afrikaans (a majority dutch based creole), and nine major African languages, including isiZulu, isiXhosa, seTswana and seSotho. In addition, many other languages and dialects are present in South Africa due to colonisation, immigration, and religion. Some of these include Portuguese, Hindi, and Arabic. As you can imagine, the influence from all these languages has dramatically impacted the English used in South Africa today, making the variety distinctly different from British English or American English.

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)

AAVE is a variety of English spoken predominantly by black Americans. The variety has its own unique linguistic structures, including grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.

Historically, AAVE has been deemed a ‘low-prestige dialect’ and therefore accused of being ‘bad English’. However, many linguists argue that this is not the case, and AAVE should be considered a fully-fledged English variety in its own right. Others have taken this idea further and say that AAVE should be regarded as its own language, known as Ebonics.

In more recent years, common words from AAVE have been making their way into the ‘mainstream’ thanks to social media; you may even be using AAVE without realising it. For example, the word ‘woke’ has grown in popularity since 2015. However, the term is not new and was initially used by black Americans since the 1940s to mean ‘stay awake’ to racial injustices’.

World Englishes Image using African American vernacular English StudySmarterFig. 3 — The phrase ‘stay woke’ is an example of AAVE.

Australian English

Australian English is the de facto language of Australia and is considered one of the major varieties of English.

English came to Australia as a result of British colonisation in the 18th century. Australian English uses features from both British and American English, and in terms of grammar, the variety is a mix of both. However, Australian English does have many of its own distinct features, including vocabulary and accent. When British colonisers first arrived in Australia, many new words had to be created to describe the unique flora and fauna not found in the UK. For example, the giant Kingfisher was named the laughing jackass; today, it is called a kookaburra.

Australian English is also considered a non-rhotic variation, meaning the /r/ sound at the end of a word or after a vowel sound is typically dropped. Another key feature of Australian English is the pronunciation of the ‘long I’ ( /aɪ/ ) sound, which is usually pronounced as an ‘oi’ (/ɔɪ/) sound. For example, ‘bike’ might sound more like ‘boike’.

Some common Australian English words include:

  • Barbie — barbeque
  • Doona — Duvet
  • Hooroo — goodbye

There are several Australian aboriginal languages; unfortunately, many of them are endangered, and the number of speakers is incredibly low. However, some Australian English words come from the Aboriginal people, such as boomerang, dingo, billabong, and wallaby.

English-speaking world

An increasing number of people are using English as a lingua franca (a common language) as a tool for communication. Today, we see people, especially from the expanding circle countries, using, adapting, and modifying English for their own needs. Individuals using ELF are no longer necessarily looking towards the inner and outer circle countries for their norms, and this is paving the way for new varieties of English, such as Vinglish (Vietnamese English) and Chinglish (Chinese English).

Fun fact! The longest English word in the world (or at least the longest one in any dictionary) is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis — which is a lung disease caused by inhaling silicate or quartz dust.

World Englishes — Key takeaways

  • The term World Englishes is used to describe the varieties of English that exist worldwide. World Englishes are sometimes named Global Englishes or International Englishes.
  • Braj Kachru created his ‘three circles of English’ model to help show the global spread of English. The model comprises three circles: The inner circle, The outer circle, and The expanding circle.
  • English first spread around the world due to British colonialism and British and American imperialism. It continues to spread today due to the internet, globalisation, and its use as a lingua franca.
  • Some of the most prominent varieties of English are: British English, American English, Australian English, African English, and South Asian English.
  • New varieties of English are arising all the time thanks to its use across the expanding circle. Some new varieties include Chinglish and Vinglish.

References

  1. Fig. 1: Kachru’s three circles of English (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kachru%27s_three_circles_of_English.svg) by Awesomemeeos is licensed by Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Do you want to impress your friends with the longest English words? This blog is for you! Some of these words aren’t used very often, but some of them are quite common and you will absolutely be able to use them whenever you’re speaking English. 

  • The longest word in English
  • The longest word in the dictionary
  • The longest words we actually use
  • The longest word with one syllable
  • The longest word with one vowel

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The longest word in English

The actual longest word in English is unfortunately so long that I can’t write it here. It has 189,819 letters and takes over three hours to say! We don’t have time for that. And thankfully, it isn’t a word you’re likely to use because it’s the chemical name for titin. Here’s a very brief snapshot: meth…ucine. Just add 189,810 letters in between. 

The longest word in the dictionary

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in any major English dictionary. It refers to a lung disease which can also be called silicosis. Why the long version then? Because it was deliberately made up to be the longest word in the English dictionary. The longest non-technical, non-medical word in an English dictionary is the 29-letter flocci­nauci­nihili­pili­fication. This is a Latin word that means the act of estimating that something is worthless

The longest words we actually use

You might have realized you’ve never heard anyone use any of the words we’ve mentioned so far. That has nothing to do with your level of English – most native speakers don’t know those words either! The longest words you will see in a normal English text are counterrevolutionaries and deinstitutionalisation, both with 22 letters. Another, with 21 letters, is incomprehensibilities, meaning things which are impossible to understand. The longest word we use regularly in everyday speech is probably uncharacteristically, at 20 letters. 

Learn languages at your pace

The longest word with one syllable

Brits and Americans are going to argue over this one. Because of our different pronunciations, we don’t agree on what is the longest one-syllable word in English. People from the US and Canada might tell you that it’s the word squirrel(l)ed. This has ten or eleven letters, again depending on where you’re from. While our transatlantic friends pronounce this something like ‘squirld’ (ˈskwərld), Brits pronounce the word squirrelled with two syllables: ‘squir-relled’ (ˈskwir-əld). I don’t want to say who’s wrong or right but… we are learning British English here. 

There are several longest words with one syllable in British English and they all have nine letters: screechedscratched and strengths are just three of them. (We’re going to see strengths again in a bit – it’s our word of the day today.)

The longest word with only vowels

Euouae wins this category. With six letters, it is the longest word in English with only vowels. However, ask an English person what this word means and they probably won’t have a clue. It’s a musical word from medieval times, so not a massively useful term to know for most of us.

The longest word without a vowel

People argue over this one because it’s hard to agree on what is or isn’t a vowel. If we take the standard English definition that there are five vowels – a e i o u – then rhythms is the longest English word without a vowel. But some people will say that the y in rhythm acts as a vowel.

Another worthy contender for this category is the word tsktsks. That doesn’t look much like English, does it? It’s more of a sound than a word and it’s sometimes spelt tsk-tsks, but tsktsks is allowed in Scrabble so I think it counts. It’s similar to a tut-tut sound of disapproval. 

The longest word with one vowel

Strengths! Our word of the day is back. Strengths, with nine letters, is the longest word in English with only one vowel. A fairly close rival is schnapps, which has eight letters; so let’s raise a glass to it, and to all of the long words we’ve met today, and say ‘cheers’.  

Which of these long words do you think you’ll be able to use in your next English conversation?

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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.

Last Updated: Dec 30, 2019
How many words exactly are in the English language? The second edition of the current 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains 171,476 words in current use. That’s a lot! Which gets the mind thinking the next question, what’s the longest word in current use today?

Many of the longest words in the dictionary refer to medicine or chemistry. You’ll find a few defined in here along with other long words that you may or may not already use. Here’s how Merriam-Webster defines the ten longest words in the English language.

1. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)

Pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust.

2. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters)

Ironically, Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest work in the dictionary and is the name for a fear of long words! Who would have thought, right?

3. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters)

Perhaps the best word of all! Made popular by the film Mary Poppins, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is something to say when you have nothing to say.

4. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters)

A relatively mild form of pseudohypoparathyroidism that is characterized by normal levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood.

5. Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)

The longest unchallenged nontechnical word that not all directories recognize, that including Merriam-Webster. According to alternative sources, floccinaucinihilipilification is the act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant, of having no value or being worthless. Often times, it is used in a humorous way.

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6. Antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters)

A term referring to a political movement in 19th century Britain that sought to separate church and state. In this case, political movement wanted to disestablish the Church of England as the official state church of England, Ireland and Wales.

7. Honorificabilitudinitatibus (27 letters)

The longest word in Shakespeare’s works. Honorificabilitudinitatibus is the longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels.

8. Thyroparathyroidectomized (25 letters)

A medical term that defines the excision of both the thyroid and parathyroid glands.

9. Dichlorodifluoromethane (23 letters)

A chlorofluoromethane CF2Cl2.

10. Incomprehensibilities (21 letters)

Impossible to comprehend. In the 1990’s, incomprehensibilities set the record as the longest word “in common usage.”

LONGEST ENGLISH WORD:Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine (189,819 letters)

If we’re talking chemistry, the longest chemical name is 189,819 letters long. It is the chemical name for titin, a giant filamentous protein essential to the structure, development, and elasticity of muscle. As to whether or not this is an actual word is disputed by many. It is not in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, so you shouldn’t ever have to worry about spelling it. ?

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