Longest word in English

There are endless debates over what is the longest word in the English language, and these debates revolve around the terms of consideration. If scientific or technical terms are allowed wholesale, then there is a potential for words of indescribable length, particularly in regard to the naming of organic and biological compounds such as proteins, such as Methionylglutaminy...serine and Acetylseryltyrosylserylisol...serine.

"Official" longest word

The Guinness Book of Records, in its 1992 and subsequent editions, declared the "longest real word" in the English language to be floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters. Defined as the act of estimating as worthless, its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741. In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator Jesse Helms, and at the White House by Bill Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry. It is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Popular usage

Antidisestablishmentarianism (a movement opposed to the separation of church and state) at 28 letters is often popularly accepted as English's longest word, and is probably the best-known "longest word."

A coined term

The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, also spelled pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, is defined as "a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica or quartz dust." At 45 letters, it is certainly the longest word ever to appear in a non-technical dictionary of English (Source: OED). However there are strong indications that the word was coined by puzzler Everett Smith in 1935 as a hypothetical long word that could result from the protraction of medical terms. Also, it naturally separates into two words, "pneumonoultramicroscopic" and "silicovolcanoconiosis", because "-ic" is a common word ending forming adjectives. The actual name of the disease is pneumoconiosis, which is 14 letters long.

Other long words

Everett Smith's prediction seems to have been proven true by the 207,000+ letter word cited by the Guinness Book of Records which allegedly represents the name for human mitochondrial DNA.

The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, or reef triggerfish, is Hawaii's unofficial state fish. At 21 letters it is one of the best known very long one-word names for an animal. It is often asserted that "the name is longer than the fish," although this certainly depends on the font size used.

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 he used it.

James Joyce, well known for his distinctive style, made up nine 100 and one 101 letter long words in his innovative novel Finnegans Wake, the most famous of which is Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronn- tuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk. Appearing on the first page, it allegedly is the symbolic thunderclap representing the fall of Adam and Eve. As this word appears nowhere else except in reference to this passage, it is not generally accepted as a "real" word.

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, and defined in reference to the song title. Hence it may well be dismissed as not a "real" word. It also divides into two words, "supercalifragilistic" and "expialidocious", because "-ic" is a common suffix rather than an infix, and in the movie it was pronounced with a /k/ sound rather the /s/ sound one would expect from a C followed by an E.

The character Big Bird of Sesame Street sings the Latin alphabet, thinking it is a word. He reads Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz aloud as /�bkədɛfgiʤɛkl̩mn̩ɔpkwɝːˈstuːvwɪksɪz/ and breaks into song.

At 71 letters long, Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun was used in a McDonald's Restaurant advertisement.

Constructions

It should be noted that English is a language which permits the legitimate extension of existing words to serve new purposes by the addition of prefixes and suffixes. This is sometimes referred to as agglutinative construction. As an example, one of the longest words used in the on-line collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is contraneoantidisestablishmentarianalistically, at 45 letters (although there are reasons to believe this was somewhat contrived). The length of this word is enhanced by the use of "contra" and especially the suffix "-alistically" which can frequently be added to words ending in "-tion" (eg. nationalistically, traditionalistically, floccinaucinihilipilificationalistically).

The word nonetheless is an interesting study in just how complex a word can legitimately be assembled. This word can be analysed as follows:

establish - to set up, put in place, or institute (originally from the Latin stāre, to stand)
establish-ment - something established, in particular a church instituted by law, such as the Church of England.
dis-establishment - the separation of church and state (specifically in this context it is the political movement of the 1860s in Britain)
disestablishment-arian - a person in support of the movement designed to bring about the above (hereafter called the 'first' movement).
anti-disestablishmentarian - a person belonging to the movement opposed to the first movement.
neo-antidisestablishmentarian - a person belonging to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement. (Appropriate because in this context the original antidisestablishment movement had become defunct).
contra-neoantidisestablishmentarian - a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement.
contraneoantidisestablishmentarian-alistically - behaving in the manner of a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement.

It could be further extended as follows:

pseudo-contraneoantidisestablishmentarianalistically - false behaviour in the manner of a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement.
pro-pseudocontraneoantidisestablishmentarianalistically - in favour of the false behaviour in the manner of a person belonging to the movement opposed to the new version of the movement opposed to the first movement.

Also see A long word from Ancient Greek (http://wiktionary.org/wiki/Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon)

Technical terms

A number of scientific naming schemes can be used to generate arbitrarily long words.

Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis is possibly the longest binomial name, which stands for a kind of amphipod.

The systematic convention for naming chemical elements of large atomic number is open-ended, for example unbitriquadpenthexseptoctennillium is the name of a hypothetical element with atomic number 1234567890.

John Horton Conway and Landon Curt Noll developed an open-ended system for naming powers of 10, in which one sexmilliaquingentsexagintillion is the name for 10¹⁹⁶⁸³.

The IUPAC nomenclature for organic chemical compounds is open-ended. In this system, the molecule constituting "Coat Protein, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain" is named:

Acetylseryltyrosylserylisoleucylthreonylseryl prolylserylglutaminylphenylalanylvalylphenyl alanylleucylserylserylvalyltryptophylalanyl aspartylprolylisoleucylglutamylleucylleucyl asparaginylvalylcysteinylthreonylserylseryl leucylglycylasparaginylglutaminylphenylalanyl glutaminylthreonylglutaminylglutaminylalanylarginyl threonylthreonylglutaminylvalylglutaminylglutaminyl phenylalanylserylglutaminylvalyltryptophyllysyl prolylphenylalanylprolylglutaminylserylthreonyl valylarginylphenylalanylprolylglycylaspartyl valyltyrosyllysylvalyltyrosylarginyltyrosyl asparaginylalanylvalylleucylaspartylprolyl leucylisoleucylthreonylalanylleucylleucyl glycylthreonylphenylalanylaspartylthreonyl arginylasparaginylarginylisoleucylisoleucyl glutamylvalylglutamylasparaginylglutaminyl glutaminylserylprolylthreonylthreonylalanyl glutamylthreonylleucylaspartylalanylthreonyl arginylarginylvalylaspartylaspartylalanyl threonylvalylalanylisoleucylarginylseryl alanylasparaginylisoleucylasparaginylleucylvalyl asparaginylglutamylleucylvalylarginylglycyl threonylglycylleucyltyrosylasparaginylglutaminyl asparaginylthreonylphenylalanylglutamylseryl methionylserylglycylleucylvalyltryptophyl threonylserylalanylprolylalanylserine

Another word in the IUPAC system, a scientific name for tryptophan synthetase, which is made up of 267 amino acids, has appeared written down a number of times and has 1,913 letters. According to the Guinness Book of Records, 18th edition, it is the longest chemical word for C₁₂₈₉H₂₀₅₁N₃₄₃O₃₇₅S₈:

methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenyl alanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyl lysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanyl valylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglutaminyl serylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanyl glycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenyl alanylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonyl isoleucylglutaminylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginyl alanylphenylalanylalanylalanylglycylvalylthreonyl prolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylme thionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyl lysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylme thionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenylalanyl asparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyl tyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinyl glutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanyl aspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenyl alanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginyl histidylasparaginylvalylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanyl isoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanyl aspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanyl seryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyl tyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalylthreonyl glycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanyl leucylprolylleucylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyl lysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanyl alanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenyl alanylglycylisoleucylserylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminyl valyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanylglycylalanyl alanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanyl isoleucylvalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginyl isoleucylglutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanyl leucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminylprolylmethionyl lysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine

Place names

There is some debate as to whether or not a place name is a legitimate word. Without entering that debate, let it be noted that the longest officially recognized place name in an English-speaking country is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (85 letters) which is a hill in New Zealand.

The longest place name in the United States (45 letters) is Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The longest hyphenated name in the U.S. is Winchester-on-the-Severn, a town in Maryland.

It is questionable whether any of the above are properly considered English words, being derived from Maori, Native American, and Welsh words respectively.

The 58 letter name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the famous name of a town on Anglesey in the United Kingdom. It is generally agreed, however, that this invented name, adopted in the mid 19th century, was contrived solely to be the longest name of any town in Britain. The official name of the place is Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, commonly abbreviated to "Llanfairpwll" or the somewhat jocular "Llanfair PG". The longest station name in the UK, at 68 letters, is also in Wales: Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddoll�npenrhynareurdraethceredigion was specifically contrived to "beat" Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. It is an obvious (and crude) invention, whose structure demonstrates a complete ignorance of Welsh grammar.

Sesquipedalianism

Although only seventeen letters long, sesquipedalianism deserves a mention. It was used as a nonce word 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 word sesquipedalianism means "the practice of using words one and a half feet long".

Jokes

A popular joke answer to the 'longest word' question is the word smiles, credited as the longest word because there is a mile between each s. Of course, by this reckoning the word beleaguered, which contains a league, is even longer.

According to some, the longest word is the word after the sentence "And now, a word from our sponsors".

Another joke is the term Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters long) which is supposedly the fear of long words. The term only shows up in jokes about long words, though; a more likely clinical name for the fear would be sesquipedaliaphobia.