ChatterBank0 min ago
longest word
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what is the longest word of english lang.
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The question might be seen as meaningless, but, to develop one or two of the answers already given...
Firstly, there are technical words in science and medicine that are just strings of jargon elements. The longest word in The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is such a word. It is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, (45 letters) which is a lung disease brought on by inhaling certain dust particles. One of the longest of these technical monsters apparently opens with the letters �methionyl...' and goes on for a further 1900 letters! (The one offered by Wikipedia above is much longer!)
(...cont)
Firstly, there are technical words in science and medicine that are just strings of jargon elements. The longest word in The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is such a word. It is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, (45 letters) which is a lung disease brought on by inhaling certain dust particles. One of the longest of these technical monsters apparently opens with the letters �methionyl...' and goes on for a further 1900 letters! (The one offered by Wikipedia above is much longer!)
(...cont)
(cont...
Secondly, there are joke words that have been made up at various times throughout history, specifically striving for great length for its own sake. The oldest of these - created at Eton in the 18th century - is probably floccinaucinihilipilification, (29 letters) listed in OED, which means setting things at little value. A more modern example of such a joke word is supercalifragilisticexpialodocious (34 letters) - also listed in OED - from the film, 'Mary Poppins'.
Thirdly, there are genuinely long words which have emerged to fill a particular gap in meaning. The longest of those is antidisestablishmentarianism, (28 letters). This might be considered the longest �normal' word in English, in the sense that it is - of the four so far listed - the only one you are at all likely actually to see in print.
So, if you are looking for non-jargon/non-jocular words that you may well see in print one day, the longest is certainly 'antidisestablishmentarianism'. (Because of Prince Charles's decision to marry Mrs Parker Bowles and given the fact that he will one day be head of the "established" church in England, the very word appeared more than once in the British press in early 2005.)
However, there is no reason why there shouldn't exist, perhaps, an adverb such as 'antidisestablishmentarianistically' to describe how believers in antidisestablishmentarianism might behave.This is what I meant when I said at the start above that words are extendable in theory and why the question might be seen as �meaningless'.
Secondly, there are joke words that have been made up at various times throughout history, specifically striving for great length for its own sake. The oldest of these - created at Eton in the 18th century - is probably floccinaucinihilipilification, (29 letters) listed in OED, which means setting things at little value. A more modern example of such a joke word is supercalifragilisticexpialodocious (34 letters) - also listed in OED - from the film, 'Mary Poppins'.
Thirdly, there are genuinely long words which have emerged to fill a particular gap in meaning. The longest of those is antidisestablishmentarianism, (28 letters). This might be considered the longest �normal' word in English, in the sense that it is - of the four so far listed - the only one you are at all likely actually to see in print.
So, if you are looking for non-jargon/non-jocular words that you may well see in print one day, the longest is certainly 'antidisestablishmentarianism'. (Because of Prince Charles's decision to marry Mrs Parker Bowles and given the fact that he will one day be head of the "established" church in England, the very word appeared more than once in the British press in early 2005.)
However, there is no reason why there shouldn't exist, perhaps, an adverb such as 'antidisestablishmentarianistically' to describe how believers in antidisestablishmentarianism might behave.This is what I meant when I said at the start above that words are extendable in theory and why the question might be seen as �meaningless'.
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