What is the longest word in the English language and the longest word in the world?

Question

It's for 10 points and if I don't get the answers I'll fail my English exam to get into Oxford!

And what does it mean?

Answer 1

1) Sticking to "ordinary" words found in English dictionaries:

The standard answer is now

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease

This is the longest word in any major English language dictionary. It was originally created as a hoax, but has been adopted as a legitimate term because it closely resembles the characteristics of the condition and has been recognized in other major dictionaries.

It you find that unacceptable, the longest "real English word" according to the Guinness Book of Records (and attested from at least 1741) is the 29-letter word "floccinaucinihilipilification"("the act of estimating (something) as worthless")

Of course, "antidisestablishmentarianism" is ALSO 29 letters, though some question whether IT is not simply another a word created for length, rather than for USE. Also at 29-letters is "electromicrographically".

2) Technical terms -- in principle no limit to length; a chemical compond with 61 letters =
sodium­meta­diamino­para­dioxy­arseno­benzoe­methylene­sulph­oxylate

3) Place Names -
Taumatawhakatang­ihangakoauauot­amateaturipukaka­pikimaunga­horonuku­pokaiwhenuak­itanatahu (85 letters) -- a hill in New Zealand

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_English

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As for the WORLD'S longest word -- if we disallow the simple manufacture of words for length (which several languages have the tools for), the longest I've seen is the Swedish word NORDÖSTERSJÖKUSTARTILLERIFLYGSPANINGSSIMULATORANLÄGGNINGSMATERIELUNDERHÅLLSUPPFÖLJNINGSSYSTEMDISKUSSIONS
INLÄGGSFÖRBEREDELSEARBETEN (130 letters), "preparatory work on the contribution to the discussion on the maintaining system of support of the material of the aviation survey simulator device within the north-east part of the coast artillery of the Baltic" (Guinness, 1996)
http://www.a-z-dictionaries.com/blog/?page_id=77


For FUN, the longest word is "beleaguered" (with a LEAGUE in the middle!). Or Red Skelton's answer -- the longest word is the one following the announcement, “And now a word from our sponsor”!

Answer 2

The longest word officially in english is the name of a chemical, i think it's a protein and is 1400 charecters long the longest "common word" is often taken to be anti-disestablishmentarianism which was a joke word coined over a 100 years ago meaning to be against the the destruction of the church/royalty

Answer 3

Pneumonoultramicroscopic-
silicovolcanoconiosis

the longest word in the English dictionary
(so long that it cannot be displayed here fully)

Antidisestablishmentarianism

is the longest word in the English language

Taumatawhakatangihangakoa-
uauotamateaturipukakapikimau-
ngahoronukupokaiwhenuakitan-
atah

longest word in the world

Answer 4

Pneumonoultramicroscopic-
silicovolcanoconiosis

is the longest in the English dictionary it is a dieses that you get from volcanoe smoke or something along those lines

Answer 5

antidishastabilmentarynism baby

Answer 6

it is antidisestablishmentarianism