Longest words

The longest word in any given language depends on the word formation rules of each language, and on the types of words allowed for consideration. Agglutinative languages allow for the creation of long words via compounding. Even non-agglutinative languages may allow word formation of theoretically limitless length in certain contexts. Words consisting of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of characters have been coined with the goal of being ranked among the world's longest words; technical scientific terms can run to hundreds of thousands of characters in length. Place names may not be accepted on lists of longest words despite their length. Longest word candidates may be judged by their acceptance in major dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary or in record-keeping publications like the Guinness World Records, and by the frequency of their use in ordinary language.

Bulgarian

Не противоконституционствувателствувайте, 39 letters, in Bulgarian means literally "Do not act against the Constitution".

Danish

Speciallægepraksisplanlægningsstabiliseringsperiode, Counting 51 letters, it's the longest used in an official context. It means "Period of stability planning for specialist doctor practice", and was used during negotiations with the local government.

Dutch

Dutch is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length. The 49-letter word Kindercarnavalsoptochtvoorbereidingswerkzaamheden, meaning "preparation activities for a children's carnival procession," was cited by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Dutch word.

The longest word in the authoritative Van Dale Dutch dictionary is wapenstilstandsonderhandelingen; 31 letters long, the term means "cease-fire negotiations".

English

Main article: Longest word in English

The longest scientific term in English is the full chemical name of the world's largest known protein, titin. Beginning with Methionyl... and ending with ...isoleucine, the word contains 189,819 letters.

The 45 letter word Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest English word that appears in a major dictionary. Originally coined to become a candidate for the longest word in English, the term eventually developed some independent use in medicine. It is referred to as "P45" by researchers.

The Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain has one of the largest chemical names, being 1185 characters long.

Antidisestablishmentarianism, at 28 letters, is the longest non-coined, non-technical English word. It refers to a 19th century political movement that opposed the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state church of England.

Floccinaucinihilipilification at 30 letters (and meaning the act of estimating something as being worth so little as to be practically valueless, or the habit of doing so) is the longest non-technical, coined word in the English language.

French

The longest non-technical french word is anticonstitutionnellement (25 letters), which means anticonstitutionally.

German

Because German is an agglutinative language, long compound words are both relatively common and comprehensible. A 79 letter word, Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, was named the longest published word in the German language by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, but longer words are possible. The word refers to a division of an Austrian shipping company named the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft which transported passengers and cargo on the Danube.

Greek

In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 183-letter word λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων. A fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish, poultry and other meat, it is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written.

Hungarian

"Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért" , with 44 letters is officially the longest word in the Hungarian language which is actually in use, means something like 'for you for your abiding holiness'. It is already morphed, since Hungarian is an agglutinative language. For this reason, it is possible to create words like "összetettszóhosszúságvilágrekorddöntéskényszerneurózistünetegyüttes-megnyilvánulásfejleszthetőségvizsgálatszervezésellenőrzésiügyosztály-létszámleépítésellenesakciócsoporttagságiigazolványmegújításikérelem-elutasítóhatározatgyűjteményértékesítőnagyvállalatátalakításutó-finanszírozáspályázatelbírálóalapítványkuratóriumelnökhelyettesellenes-merényletkivizsgálóbizottságiüléselnapolásiindítványbenyújtásiforma-nyomtatványkitöltögetésellenőrizhetőség-próba" which is 447 characters long and refers to a committee and its cognizance. Of course in reality such committee couldn't exist. The longest dictionary form word is the non-morphed form of the longest word in use, 'megszentségteleníthetetlen', with only 25 characters, which means "can't be stained".

Māori

The 85-letter place name Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest place name in the Māori language, and for that matter the longest place name in an English-speaking country. hehehehehehehehehheheheheheehhehehehehhehehehehehehhehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehheheheheheehhehehehehhehehehehehehhehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehheheheheheehhehehehehhehehehehehehhehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehheheheheheehhe

Polish

Konstantynopolitańczykowianeczka, 32 letters, in Polish means young girl who is an inhabitant of Constantinople.

Portuguese

The 46 letter word pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconióticos (plural of pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconiótico) is the longest word. It is the carrier of the disease Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

The 27 letter word inconstitucionalissimamente is recognized as being the longest non-technical word.

Slovak

The longest slovak word is najneobhospodárovavateľnejší (28 letters), which means the least cultivable.

Spanish

Main article: Longest word in Spanish

The 24 letter word electroencefalografistas, referring to people who practice electroencephalography, has been cited as the longest Spanish word in actual use.

Swedish

As well as other languages named herein Swedish also is an agglutinative language. The longest word in a Swedish dictionary is "Nordöstersjökustartilleriflyg-spaningssimulatoranläggningsmaterielunderhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussionsinläggsförberedelsearbeten" which is a 130 letter word about a specific preparation talk about a north eastern artilleryship.

Turkish

Main article: Longest word in Turkish

Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine, at 70 letters, has been cited as the longest Turkish word, though it should be noted that it is a compound word and that Turkish, as an agglutinative language, carries the potential for words of theoretically infinite length.

Welsh

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, a village on the island of Anglesey in Wales, is the longest place name in the Welsh language. 51 letters long in the Welsh alphabet, the name can be translated as "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave".

See also

• Morphology (linguistics)
• Longest English sentence