What is the longest word in English?

Question

I've heard it is SmileS which means there is a mile distance alongside this word, but its a joke, do you really know the longest word?

Answer 1

The longest word in the English Dictionary is :

antidisestablishmentarianism

(just dont ask me what it means !)

Answer 2

It's actually not that simple. There are several candidates, but most involve using standard word-construction rules to simply string a series of words, prefixes, and suffixes together. For example, antidisestablishmentarianism refers to the ideology of a group in 19th century England who opposed proposals to "disestablish" the Church of England, removing its official, state-sponsered status.

But as you can see, you've got "anti-" and "dis-" as prefixes, and "-ment", "-arian", and "-ism" as suffixes. Is there really a limit to how much you can do this? More to the point, where do you stop counting these things as real words?

How about pneumonoultramicroscopic silicovolcanoconiosis (that's actually one word, but the Yahoo! Answers parser won't display it if written that way)? A disease of the lungs contracted by the inhalation of volcanic ash? Turns out it was invented for the sole purpose of being a long word, so while it is quite long, is it a "real" word? Most experts don't think so.

If you allow technical words, there are several schemes which allow for arbitrarily long words. The technical names for complex organic compounds can stretch for as many characters as you like, but no one - chemists included - actually uses these words.

All of that being said, "antidisestablishmentarianism" is probably the longest word not invented for the purpose of being a long word. It does have a real meaning and was used by real people in real conversations and writings. So that's probably a good candidate.

Answer 3

The longest official word ever (1,913 letters) is the term for the formula C1289H2051N343O375S8

Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenyl-
alanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysyglutamyl-
gycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylvalylthreonyl-
leucylglycylaspartylprolylglycyllisoleucylglutamylglutaminyl-
serylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucyl-
glutamylalanylglycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucyl-
glycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylprolylleucyl-
alanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylglutaminylasparaginyl-
alanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanyl-
glycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanyl-
glutamylmethionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyl-
lysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucyl-
leucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenylalanyl-
asparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyl-
tyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalyl-
aspartylsrylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalyl-
glutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutaminyl-
alanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylalanyl-
prolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartyl-
alanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminyl-
isoleucylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyl-
tyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycyl-
alanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylleucyllysyl-
glutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminyl-
glycylphenylalanylglysylisoleucylserylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminyl-
valyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanylglycylalanylalanyl-
glycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalyllysylisoleucyl-
isoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamyl-
prolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenyl-
alanylvalylglutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginy-
lserine.

Absolutely true.

Researcher's Note: Do you have any idea how long it took me to copy this down?

Answer 4

well...i sat and typed antidisestablish..... and pneumo.....and by the time i did that there were like 20 other answers in so i didn't bother!!

i think anti.... is prob the better word cos it is learned in primary school! the meaning has been described correctly by ryan D

pneuma...don't know the origin, but learned it at a very early age just so i could be a wee smart ***! it is indeed a lung disease, miners were most susceptible to it and it is commonly known as 'black spit' (for obvious reasons!)

i think this is a case of well done everybody!

ps...the spell checker on here wouldn't accept 'learned'. it keeps asking if you want to change it to 'learn ed'. how bizarre!

Answer 5

pneumonoultramicroscopic-
silicovolcanoconiosis, that is one word but I have to break it up or it won't fit on the page.
look on Wikipedia if you don't believe me.
Go on Wikipedia england, then search the longest word in english, then click on the option that says that, and scroll down to find it on the first paragraph in blue.
Good luck!
Puddles xxx by the way maladymich, they said in english, allthough it is a really long word!! and the gifted c, I just put that cos I couldn't fit it on.

Answer 6

The longest word is the longest one without prefixes or suffixes.

Answer 7

Antidisestablishmentarianism - meaing: A person who is opposed to something, such as a group, policy, proposal, or practice.
This is not including medical terms and chemicals which aren't counted. But here is one: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - meaning a lung disease.

Answer 8

At school I was told it was antidisestablishmentarianism. I think that ignoring technical words such as chemical names and so on, it's probably still the longest.

Answer 9

Disestablishmentarianisum

Answer 10

Supercalifragilisticecspealadoious