Question: What is the longest word in English? Answer: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis It means a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs. - - - - - - FURTHER COMMENTS: -------------------------- The longest words in Oxford Dictionaries Online 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 Youre unlikely to come across these words in genuine use: theyre generally just provided as answers to questions about the longest words in the English language. In terms of sheer size, however, the longest word to be found in Britain is the Welsh place name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. For obvious reasons, its usually abbreviated to Llanfair PG. The 20-volume historical Oxford English Dictionary includes other very long words, most of which are highly technical. These include: otorhinolaryngological - 22 letters immunoelectrophoretically - 25 letters psychophysicotherapeutics - 25 letters thyroparathyroidectomized - 25 letters pneumoencephalographically - 26 letters radioimmunoelectrophoresis - 26 letters psychoneuroendocrinological - 27 letters hepaticocholangiogastrostomy - 28 letters spectrophotofluorometrically - 28 letters pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism - 30 letters People sometimes ask whether a DNA string can be considered as the longest English word, given that they can run to many thousands of letters. The answer is no: theyre regarded as chemical names rather than genuine words in the sense of meaningful items of vocabulary. The same is true of the formal names of chemical compounds. These can be almost unlimited in length (for example, aminoheptafluorocyclotetraphosphonitrile, 40 letters) and many contain numerals, Roman and Greek letters, and other symbols, as well as ordinary letters. We dont tend to regard these terms as proper words.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 22:11:54 +0000