what is the longest word in the english language?

Answer 1

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Answer 2

I concur with captainlaurarrr's answer. Read the following with a magnifying glass;

This word is a Tryptophan synthetase A protein, an enzyme that has 267 amino acids, and makes a record of.......
..... 1,909 LETTERS!

the word is....

Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphen-
ylalanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylgluta-
mylglysylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylyalylthre-
onylleucylglcycylaspartylprolylglicylisoleucyglutamylgluta-
minlserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleu-
cylglutamylalanylglyclyalanylaspartylalanylleucyglutamylle-
ucylgluycylisoleucylproluylphenylalanyserylaspartyprolylleu-
celalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisolleucyglutaminylaspa-
raginylalanythreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylal-
anylglycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphen-
ylalanylglglutamylmethionylleucyalanylleucylisoleucylarginyl-
glutaminyllysylhistidylprolyuthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleuc-
ylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasbaraginylleucyl-
valylphenylalanylsparaginyyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglut-
amylphenylalanylyltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyll-
ysylvalylglycylvalylspartylserylvalylleucylvallalanylaspart-
ylvalylprolylvalvlglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylpheny-
lalalrginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasp-
araginylvalylalalprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcystei-
nylprolyprolylaspartylalanylaspartylaspartyspartyleucylle-
ucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyroslglycylargin-
ylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginlalanyl-
glycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginyla-
nylalanylleucylprolylleucylaspaaginylhistidylleucylvalylalan-
yllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparagimylalanylalanypro-
lylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenlalanylglycylisoleyucyls-
erylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisol-
eucylalspartylalanylglycylalanylalanylglycylalanylasoleucylse-
rylglycylserylalanylisoleucylbalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylgluta-
mylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylpronylglu-0
tamyllysylmethionylluecylalanylalanyoeucyllysylvalylpheny-
lalanylvalylglutamilylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreo-
nylarginylserine.

Answer 3

Technically, the longest english word should is pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism(30 words), but the longest recorded in most dictionaries is pneumono­ultra­micro­scopic­silico­volcano­coniosis(45words) but apparently it ain't really a word per se.

Answer 4

Which ever word happens to have the most letters in it!!

Or like someone else said the longest distance!! smiles!!

Answer 5

Major dictionaries
The longest word in any major English language dictionary is pneumono­ultra­micro­scopic­silico­volcano­coniosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of volcanic ash, but research has discovered that this word was originally intended as a hoax. It has since been used in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim.[1]

The Oxford English Dictionary contains pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters).

The longest non-technical word is flocci­nauci­nihili­pili­fication at 29 letters. Consisting of a series of Latin words meaning "nothing" and defined as "the act of estimating something as worthless," its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741.[2][3][4] In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator Robert Byrd [5], and at the White House by Bill Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry, albeit sarcastically.[6]

Anti­dis­establishment­arianism (a nineteenth century movement in England opposed to the separation of church and state) at 28 letters is still in colloquial currency for being one of the longest words in the English language.

The longest word which appears in William Shakespeare's works is the 27-letter honorific­abilitud­initatibus, appearing in Love's Labour's Lost. This is arguably an English word (rather than Latin), but only because it was Shakespeare who used it.

The humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua‘a, or reef triggerfish, is Hawaii's official state fish.[7] At 22 letters (including the okina) it is one of the best known very long one-word names for an animal. It is occasionally quipped that the name is longer than the fish.

Although only fourteen letters long, sesquipedalian deserves a mention. It is derived from a nonce word used by the Roman author Horace, in his work Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry). The quote is as follows: "Proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba," which means, "He throws aside his paint pots and his words that are a foot and a half long." The Oxford English Dictionary lists sesquipedalianism ("the practice of using words one and a half feet long"), and further derivations can be created as described in the Constructions section below.


[edit] Coinages
In his play Ecclesiazousae ("The Assemblywomen"), the ancient Greek comedic playwright Aristophanes created: Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphio-paraomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonop-tekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon, a word of 183 letters that describes a dish by stringing together its ingredients.

James Joyce made up nine 100 and one 101-letter words in his novel Finnegans Wake, the most famous of which is Bababadal­gharagh­takammin­arronn­konn­bronn­tonn­erronn­tuonn­thunn­trovarrhoun­awnskawn­toohoo­hoordenen­thurnuk. Appearing on the first page, it allegedly represents the symbolic thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve. As it appears nowhere else except in this passage, it is generally not accepted as a real word. Sylvia Plath made mention of it in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, when Esther Greenwood, the protagonist, was reading Finnegans Wake.

The writer Cory Brait's short story "Worduliscious" contains Anteantimacabrecantysobradoraflanxadoxicalloussousphliacs, which was said in the book to have a vague meaning of before the people against loving things that don't make sense. [8]

Mark McShane's Untimely Ripped (1963) contains praetertranssubstantiationalistically (37 letters).[9]

The well-known song title from the movie Mary Poppins, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", with 34 letters, does appear in several dictionaries, but only as a proper noun defined in reference to the song title. Hence, it can be dismissed as an unreal word, particularly since the song assigns no meaning to it other than to say that it's impressive. The idea and invention of the word is credited to songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman.

In the 1970s, there were Pepsi advertisements for Lip­smackin­thirst­quenchin­acetastin­motivatin­good­buzzin­cool­talkin­high­walkin­fast­livin­ever­givin­cool­fizzin, coining a 100-letter but several-word term.

In 1975, the 71-letter (but also several-word) advertising jingle,Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun was first used in a McDonald's Restaurant advertisement to describe the Big Mac. [10]

The character Big Bird of Sesame Street sings the Latin alphabet, thinking it is a word. He reads abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz aloud as /æbkədɛfgiʤɛkl̩mn̩ɔpkwɝːˈstuːvwɪksɪz/ and breaks into song (ABC-DEF-GHI).

Answer 6

It wont take the whole word so I broke it into two lines. But it's one long word.

always heard it was:

Pneumonoultramicroscopic
silicovolcanoconiosis

Not sure if I spelled it correctly but I'm darned close.

It's some kind of lung disease. I think.

In 5th grade we got lots of extra credit on a spelling test if we got this right! What a fun teacher.

Answer 7

Tricky question... A lot of the words people think are the longest are diseases... and a lot of diseases and medical names are- in fact- LATIN.

So it blurs the guidelines a little.

Answer 8

I remember being told at school that it was "antidisestablishmentarianism" - a movement in the 19th century to oppose the proposed disestablisment of the Church of England.

Answer 9

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Answer 10

infinity