Title.

Just wondering what the longest word in English dictionary is. I may put it of some use, just in case.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconeosis. It's a lung condition. I see the roots "silic-" and "volcan-", so I guess it's what ya get if ya breathe microscopic fragments of silicon from volcanic dust. Not really sure on spelling.

55 posts to go.

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS (http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words11.html) (45 letters; a lung disease caused by breathing in certain particles) is the longest word in any English-language dictionary. (It is also spelled -koniosis.)
On Feb. 23, 1935, the New York Herald-Tribune reported on page 3:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis succeeded electrophotomicrographically as the longest word in the English language recognized by the National Puzzlers' League at the opening session of the organization's 103d semi-annual meeting held yesterday at the Hotel New Yorker.
The puzzlers explained that the forty-five-letter word is the name of a special form of silicosis caused by ultra-microscopic particles of siliceous volcanic dust.

The word appears in the 1936 Supplement to OED1, the OED2, the addendum to W2 (spelled -koniosis), W3 (spelled -coniosis), RHUD2, and Chambers.
The OED2 has:

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (-koniosis), a factitious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust' but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word.
1936 F. Scully Bedside Manna 87 *Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanakoniosis [sic], a disease caused by ultra-microscopic particles of sandy volcanic dust, might give even him laryngitis.
1966 Word Study Oct. 7/2 The resources of Greek have enriched the modern world as well as the ancient one. Perhaps this is most dramatically illustrated by the longest and most fantastic word now in an English dictionary (the Merriam-Webster's great Unabridged) which is forty-five letters in length: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,..me aning 'a disease of the lungs caused by extremely small particles of ash and dust'.
1973 R. Megarry Second Miscellany-at-Law 160 It has been said that 'floccinaucinihilipilification' is the longest word in the English language... The word's proud title must yield to some technical terms, such as pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis. :eek:

From the same page...
In German, the longest word is DONAUDAMPFSCHIFFAHRTSELEKTRIZITAETENHAUPTBETRIEBSW ERKBAUUNTERBEAMTENGESELLSCHAFT (80 letters), "the club for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services (name of a pre-war club in Vienna)," according to 1996 Guinness. According to Barbara Kratzin, in German the word would just have 79 letters, since ae would be written as Ä. A reader of this page writes, "There has been a 'Rechtschreibreform' in Germany recently which has changed the spelling of many words. I believe that there should be another "f" in

you guys have way too much free time on your hands =]

I know huh!

Actually, come to think of it, "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis" isn't the longest word. There's this one amino acid that has a few hundred letters. I don't remember what site I saw it on. Someone should look for it . . . Hint hint, wink wink!

53 posts to go!

From the same site (page 13)-

Shown below is a 1,185-letter chemical term for "Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Stain." This word has appeared in the American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts and is considered by some to be the longest real word.
ACETYLSERYLTYROSYLSERYLISOLEUCYL-
THREONYLSERYLPROLYLSERYLGLUTAMINYL-
PHENYLALANYLVALYLPHENYLALANYLLEUCYL-
SERYLSERYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLALANYL-
ASPARTYLPROLYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYL-
LEUCYLASPARAGINYLVALYLCYSTEINYL-
THREONYLSERYLSERYLLEUCYLGLYCYL-
ASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYL-
GLUTAMINYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYL-
ALANYLARGINYLTHREONYLTHREONYL-
GLUTAMINYLVALYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYL-
PHENYLALANYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLVALYL-
TRYPTOPHYLLYSYLPROLYLPHENYLALANYL-
PROLYLGLUTAMINYLSERYLTHREONYLVALYL-
ARGINYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYLGLYCYL-
ASPARTYLVALYLTYROSYLLYSYLVALYLTYROSYL-
ARGINYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLALANYLVALYL-
LEUCYLASPARTYLPROLYLLEUCYLISOLEUCYL-
THREONYLALANYLLEUCYLLEUCYLGLYCYL-
THREONYLPHENYLALANYLASPARTYLTHREONYL-
ARGINYLASPARAGINYLARGINYLISOLEUCYL-
ISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLVALYLGLUTAMYL-
ASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLSERYL-
PROLYLTHREONYLTHREONYLALANYLGLUTAMYL-
THREONYLLEUCYLASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYL-
ARGINYLARGINYLVALYLASPARTYLASPARTYL-
ALANYLTHREONYLVALYLALANYLISOLEUCYL-
ARGINYLSERYLALANYLASPARAGINYLISOLEUCYL-
ASPARAGINYLLEUCYLVALYLASPARAGINYL-
GLUTAMYLLEUCYLVALYLARGINYLGLYCYL-
THREONYLGLYCYLLEUCYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYL-
GLUTAMINYLASPARAGINYLTHREONYL-
PHENYLALANYLGLUTAMYLSERYLMETHIONYL-
SERYLGLYCYLLEUCYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYL-
THREONYLSERYLALANYLPROLYLALANYLSERINE

The other, which appears below, is supposed to be a 1,913-letter chemical name for the tryptophan synthetase A protein:

methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleuc ylphenylalanylalanylglutaminyll eucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanyl phenylalanylvalylprolylphenylal anylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycyli soleucylglutamylglutaminylseryl leucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucy lglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspa rtylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylproly lphenylalanylserylaspartylproly lleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucyl glutaminylasparaginylalanylthre onylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylgly cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglu taminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylmethionylleucy lalanylleucylisoleucylarginylgl utaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolyl isoleucylglycylleucylleucylmeth ionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenylalan ylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleuc ylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyrosylalanylglutami nylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylg lycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspar tylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylgl utamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutamin ylalanylalanylleucylarginylhist idylasparaginylvalylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylala nylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprol ylaspartylalanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleuc ylarginylglutaminylisoleucylala nylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonylt yrosylleucylleucylserylarginyla lanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylaspara ginylarginylalanylalanylleucylp rolylleucylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllys ylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasp araginylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylgl ycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucyl serylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalany lalanylisoleucylaspartylalanylg lycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycyls erylalanylisoleucylvalyllysylis oleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparagi nylisoleucylglutamylprolylgluta myllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvaly lphenylalanylvalylglutaminylpro
lylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine

Is that the one you were referring to?

How many Greek and Latin root words could possibly be needed if it's possible to refer to both of those in a few regular-sized words?! OMFG!

52 posts to go!

EDIT: Yes, it was. Thanks.

What the :D :D :D and to think I was only expecting an at most 30-letter long word hahahahaha

'dermatoglyphics' is the longest 'normal' English word without any repeating vowels, beating 'uncopyrightable' by one. 'Antinominianism' is I believe the rarest English word in use - great for checking a dictionary's completeness...

well "a" was way of then, i guess :p

The longest word in the Oxford dictionary is "floccipaucinihilipilification."-29 letters. It means the action of estimating as worthless. first used in 1741.
The longest words in common use are, disproportionableness,incomprehensibilities, interenominationalism, and interdenominationalistically.

That last one above has 29 letters , but there is some debate about it being the longest . I think there is another one that has to do with the church, anti -disestablishentari.... something or other, thats meant to have 29 letters as well.

what about antidisestablishmenteriansim?

Antidisestablisharealism

" what about antidisestablishmenteriansim?"

"Antidisestablisharealism"

Errr, fuck the pigs anyway...

thats the one !

From the same page...
In German, the longest word is DONAUDAMPFSCHIFFAHRTSELEKTRIZITAETENHAUPTBETRIEBSW ERKBAUUNTERBEAMTENGESELLSCHAFT (80 letters), "the club for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services (name of a pre-war club in Vienna)," according to 1996 Guinness. According to Barbara Kratzin, in German the word would just have 79 letters, since ae would be written as Ä. A reader of this page writes, "There has been a 'Rechtschreibreform' in Germany recently which has changed the spelling of many words. I believe that there should be another "f" in

Quite right, it would now be written ...SCHIFFFAHRT... but I would not count on the future existence of the Rechtschreibreform, it is boycotted by universities and newspapers because it is crap. It was designed to make the German language easier, but that is not really the case...

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (easiest-to-pronounce longest word)

antidisestablishmenterionism.....damn typos.

I know the German word for constipated..............Farfompoopen, lol :P

antidisestablimentarianism:

establishmentarian - someone who is trying to or wants to unite the government with the catholic church

disestablishmentarian - someone who is trying to or wants to prevent that

antidisestablishmentarian - someone who opposes the views of disestablishmentarians but does not necessarily agree with establihmentarians

antidisestablishmentarianism - the views of an antidisestablishmentarian

pseudoantidisestablihmentarian - someone who pretends to be an antidisestablihmentarian

pseudoantidisestablihmentarianism - the views of someone pretending to be an antidisestablishmentarian


ah, breath is good

Well well well..... here we have prefixes and suffixes to make things merrier.... hahaha...

pseudoantisemipseudoantidisestablishmentarianistic principles- the principles based on the views of some one pretending to be against the opinion of someone partly against the views of those who pretend to oppose the the position maintained by those against diestablishmenterianism.

note: these principles are of a highly hypothetical nature

thats 2 words, ha

Any mod, please lock this topic, thank you.... I'm afraid it's gonabe a spam paradise. Don't worry, this topic has long served its purpose.