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2007-01-07 22:15:04 · 11 answers · asked by Rahul S 1 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

11 answers

Smiles

There's a mile between the first and last letter!

2007-01-07 22:16:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2 1

longest word in English
The longest word in English depends upon the definition of an "English word". English allows new words to be formed by construction; long words are coined; place names may be considered words; technical terms may be arbitrarily long. Length can be in terms of orthography and number of written letters or phonology and the number of phonemes.


Major dictionaries
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 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

2007-01-08 06:17:42 · answer #2 · answered by Basement Bob 6 · 0 0

In "english language", "language" is the longest word.

2007-01-08 06:20:24 · answer #3 · answered by sunny 1 · 0 1

pneumono­ultra­micro­scopic­silico­volcano­coniosis, a 45-letter word

2007-01-08 14:58:11 · answer #4 · answered by greatnewsbearer 3 · 0 0

Personally, I like "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

2007-01-08 06:20:33 · answer #5 · answered by Elizabeth P 2 · 1 0

smiles because there is a mile betwene the begining and end hahahehehoho :D

on a more serious note it would be Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

2007-01-08 06:18:13 · answer #6 · answered by Mouse_Sweet 2 · 0 0

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

2007-01-08 06:30:33 · answer #7 · answered by terra 4 · 0 0

antidisestablishmentarianism

2007-01-08 06:16:57 · answer #8 · answered by Detroit Diva 3 · 0 1

supercaligragelisticexpialidocious.

2007-01-08 06:21:23 · answer #9 · answered by wilma m 6 · 0 0

pneumono­ultra­micro­scopic­silico­volcano­coniosis

2007-01-08 06:24:32 · answer #10 · answered by vellita 1 · 0 0

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