Brains.

[rara_rogers]

Does anyone know what the longest word in the English Dictionary is? And what does it mean?

[dinsdale]

yes but, being dyslexic, not sure i can spell it!!

this makes it hard to look up in a dictionary too :o)

 

Floccynoccyhipilification,  this means the act of estimating something or someone as worthless.

[stoo_pid]

isn't it antidisestablishmentarianism?

Originally this meant opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England, but now means opposition to the belief that there should no longer be an official church in a country.

[stoo_pid]

ooh, AB gremlins

[dinsdale]

Im not 100% but i thought that wasnt a word as its a double negative m8,

though as I say i'm not 100% on  that

[dinsdale]

antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters), 

 floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters) and 

 pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters). 

The first is the only one of the three that was not specifically constructed for the purpose of being a very long word. It means opposition to the separation of church and state. The second, meaning the estimation of something as worthless, is the longest non-technical word in the OED. The latter, supposedly a lung disease, appears to be a semi-serious concoction.

 

Just found that and feel all big and clever :o)

http://theory.cs.iitm.ernet.in/~arvindn/curious_words/

[stoo_pid]

I'm wrong anyway dinsdale - just checked the correct spelling of floccinaucinihilipilification & that's got 29 letters but mine only had 28.

[stoo_pid]

beat me to it : - )

[dinsdale]

well get there eventually between us stoo_pid

well done

Jim aka

[bernardo]

The three words given in the answers above are all correct, but you have to specify which dictionary you are referring to.

[dinsdale]

It does specify OED in the definition Bernardo.

Oxford English Dictionary

hope this doesnt sound snotty as its not meant to :-)

[Quizmonster]

But how does a believer in antidisestablishmentarianism behave? Well, obviously...antidisestablishmentarianistically!

What I mean is that looking for 'longest' words is a bit pointless. Most are just strings of appropriate medical, technical or scientific jargon-elements, as in the 'pneumo...' one offered above. The fact that any of these is not in a dictionary does not detract from its theoretical 'existence'.

[bernardo]

dinsdale - my comment was referring to the original question, which simply refers to "the English Dictionary".

If I remember correctly, antid- is from the OED and pneumo- is from the Webster's (American).

[dinsdale]

Ok, sorry I missed your point Bernardo,

thanks for clearing that up.

Though I do agree with Quizmonster that all three of these words are a bit pointless as its not like they are in everyday use.

[Quizmonster]

The OED does list the 'pneumo...' word but goes on to say the following...

"a factitious (ie artificial) word alleged to mean a lung disease...but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word."

Clearly, 'antidis...ism' is the only one that is an actual undisputed word with specific meaning...all the others are jargonised nonsense or just made up for fun like the 'flocci...' one and that Mary Poppins effort ending in '...alodocious' or some such spelling.

[Quizmonster]

Just for the heck of it, I decided to check out the Mary Poppins word 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' (34 letters) and it, too, is in the OED. I was fascinated to discover there that the word had been a song-title as long ago as 1949 and that there had been a copyright case against Disney for using it in his 1964 film.

[rara_rogers]

OH MY GOD!

Well, yeah, thanx people, I think you have well and truly answered my question, but in doing that you have also raised a few more...but we wont go into that!

Dinsdale and stoo_pid you are both great and not to mention quite amusing and have brightened up my otherwise crappy day at work. Thank you both. x

[stoo_pid]

thanks rara_rogers - the highest accolade I normally get is 'dibbley'!  : - )

[NoGood Boyo]

Eternity.

[Kay]

Elastic because it can stretch,hehehehe.

[rara_rogers]

you're welcome stoo_pid. Its not often you find someone with a bit of brains that isn't up themselves.

Red, aka