Longest word?

Question

What is the longest word in the dictionary?

Answer 1

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
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The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is defined as "a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, mostly found in volcanos". It was originally postulated by Everett M. Smith, simply to serve as the longest English word, but has been used in several sources as an approximation of it's originally intended definition. The plural of this word, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses is equally long.

Answer 2

The longest word in the world is 92 letters long.

It is : Taumatawhakatangihang
akoauauotamateaturipukakapik
imaungahoronukupokaiwhenuak
itanatahu

Definition

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Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the Maori (language) placename on an otherwise unremarkable hill which is 305 metres high, near Mangaorapa and close to Porangahau, south of Waipukurau, between Hastings and Dannevirke, in southern Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. The placename is often shortened to Taumata by the locals for ease of conversation.

The placename on the sign that marks this hill is spelt as Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu which roughly translates into English as The brow [or summit] of the hill [or place], where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid [down], climbed [up] and swallowed mountains, [to travel the land], [who is] known as the Land Eater, played [on] his [nose] flute to his loved one. At 85 letters, it is one of the longest placenames in the world. There are several alternative translations and variants in spelling.

It has also been spelled as: Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, which is 92 letters, and has been entered into the Guinness Book of Records as such.

The shorter form of the name was used in a song written and performed by New Zealand musician Peter Cape (1926-1979). The longer version of the name is apparently more recent, or perhaps more formal. There are claims that the longer name, which is now shown on a sign, has been in use all along, by the local Maori. The Welsh argue that the longer name has been contrived to be longer than Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which some others argue was contrived to be the longest British place name in the first place.

The name was also chanted as part of a UK pop hit (unrelated to the Peter Cape song) called the Lone Ranger, by Quantum Jump, in 1979. On the record, the chant was made to sound vaguely Native American in tone, in keeping with the track's Lone Ranger storyline. Kenny Everett also sampled Quantum Jump's chant of the name for his ITV Video Show series.

Answer 3

This is not as simple a question as it might seem. The antidisestablishmentarianism answer cited by many is traditional, but no longer true. There are compound isotopes that are referred to in words of more than 1100 letters, which are not commonly used by any means but under certain strict definitions are 'words'. "Floccinaucinihili pilification" is also commonly thought of as the longest non-technical word, having 2 letters more than the aforementioned anti...etc. There is a joke word "Hippopotomonstroses quippedaliophobia" which allegedly means a fear of long words, and is built from sensible etymological roots, but it's a bit dodgy to claim it as a legitimate word. The longest word ever to appear in an english language dictionary is "pneumonoultramicroscopic silicovolcanoconiosis", which is a type of lung disease. And of course, the popularity of 'Mary Poppins' has rendered "Supercalifragilistic expialidocious" a legitimate word.

I guess if you were to mention the dictionary you want to know the longest word in it would make an answer simpler, but if your question is more "what is the longest word that has ever appeared in a commonly used dictionary?" (and I don't know which one it is), the answer is "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" at 45 letters.

NB: Please excuse the spaces in the middle of these words - Yahoo in their wisdom cut the long words short and replace the end with '...'.

Answer 4

It might be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious unless you want to count names of diseases (such as 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis', defined by the OED as "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"), places (such as 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch', a village in Wales), chemical compounds (apparently there is one that is 1,913 letters long), and also a few words found only in Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
Other words famous for being sesquipedalian:

antidisestablishmentarianism ("opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England")
floccinaucinihilipilification
honorificabilitudinitatibus (Which appears in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, and which has been cited as [dubious] evidence that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays)
Or perhaps smiles is the longest word — after all, there is a mile between the first letter and the last.

Answer 5

Oh My God!!!..I Thought To Myself I Have To Answer This Question Right Now Before This Poor Soul Throw's Thenselves Out Of The Window Unless This Pathetic Question Doesn't Put Them Out Of Thier Misery..
The longest word is...
youignoramus

Answer 6

I believe the longest NON-medical word is Antidisestablishmentarianism

medical dictionaries have longer ones however

Answer 7

The longest word in any major English language dictionary is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease, but research has discovered that this word was originally intended as a hoax. It has since been used in a close approxmation of its originally intended context, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim.

Answer 8

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, (45 letters)
a kind of lung disease. This word is listed in the Oxford English dictionary and so is offically the longest excepted word in the english language.

Answer 9

The longest word in the English dictionary, I am not sure.
Pneumono ultra microscopic silico volcano coniosis is the longest English word, found in encyclopaedias but don't think it is in the dictionary. The longest word in the world, I believe is a German word.

Answer 10

your all wrong. The longest word in the english language has 310 letters in it. it is in a book called " the top ten of everything". It is "ornicoptyheobibliopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoichthyoproisderochpnomyoalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphitohalomolybddoclerobelaxinocoscinodactyliogeolithopessopsephocatoptrotpephraoneriochiroonychodactylloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenoscapulinanic". It was used in medieval times to discribed the super- natural. I'm buggered if i'm going in to any more detail.I'ts taken nearly 15 mins to type all that in!!!!!