The longest word in the English language
It might seem like an easy task to name the longest English word 鈥� just look it up in the dictionary. But in practice, experts disagree.
It might seem like an easy task to name the longest English word 鈥� just look it up in the dictionary. But in practice, experts disagree.
What is the longest word in the English language? This might seem like an easy question to answer: Look it up in the dictionary, or search online, and there you go. But in practice, experts disagree. What counts as a word? How frequently must a term be used?聽
If you鈥檙e looking for length, scientific nomenclature is a good place to begin. The chemical name of the protein titin, found in muscle tissue, begins聽methionylthreonylthreonyl... and goes on for another 189,794 letters, approximately as many characters as 70 pages of聽single-spaced text. This is the longest string of English letters that names a thing, but it鈥檚 not a word per se. It鈥檚 a formula that represents this protein鈥檚 chemical composition linguistically, rather than numerically or in a diagram.
Many writers have enjoyed coining long words, but these rarely gain traction in wider use. Aristophanes, the comic poet of ancient Greece, came up with a name for a stew made of fish, pigeons, and honey that has 182 letters when transliterated into English.聽
James Joyce made up ten 100- and 101-letter words to represent various sounds, including聽bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonn
erronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk, for the thunder that rang out when Adam fell from God鈥檚 grace. Although this is a very cool onomatopoeia 鈥� made up of words imitating the sounds 鈥渢hunder鈥� in different languages 鈥� it is not really a contender for the record either. No one uses it, except perhaps literary critics or students struggling through 鈥淔innegans Wake.鈥� 聽
On the other hand, English speakers around the world are familiar with supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters). When it was first popularized in the 1964 film 鈥淢ary Poppins,鈥� it was fun but meaningless and so it is still often left off lists of longest words. Merriam-Webster聽explains that it is in the running now, though: 鈥渢he mouthful of nonsensical syllables certainly has brought cheer to audiences for decades. That cheer has inspired people to use it ... for things that are extraordinarily good or wonderful,鈥� a supercalifragilistic (for short) development!
Coming in at 29 letters, floccinaucinihilipilification 鈥� 鈥渢he act of estimating something to be worthless鈥� 鈥� is the longest word that invites no arguments. It鈥檚 in dictionaries, is occasionally used in public, and has a pedigree. It was coined in the 18th century by students at Eton, a boarding school in Britain, by linking four Latin words for 鈥渘othing.鈥� 聽
Except for methionyl... the words we鈥檙e talking about were all intentionally created to be long. What鈥檚 the longest in common use? How about smiles? As the joke goes, there鈥檚 a mile between the beginning and end of the word!