Longest Words

(45) PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS (also spelled PNEUMONO-

ULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOKONIOSIS) = a lung disease caused by breathing in
particles of siliceous volcanic dust.
This is the longest word in any English dictionary. However, it was coined by Everett Smith, the
President of The National Puzzlers' League, in 1935 purely for the purpose of inventing a new "longest
word". The Oxford English Dictionary described the word as factitious. Nevertheless it also appears in
the Webster's, Random House, and Chambers dictionaries.

(37) HEPATICOCHOLANGIOCHOLECYSTENTEROSTOMIES = a surgical creation of a connection

between the gall bladder and a hepatic duct and between the intestine and the gall bladder.
This is the longest word in Gould's Medical Dictionary.

(34) SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS = song title from the Walt Disney movie Mary
Poppins.
It is in the Oxford English Dictionary.

"But then one day I learned a word

That saved me achin' nose,
The biggest word you ever 'eard,
And this is 'ow it goes:
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

(30) HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPEDALIAN = pertaining to a very long word.

From Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words.

(29) FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION = an estimation of something as worthless.

This is the longest word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Interestingly the most
common letter in English, E, does not appear in this word at all, whilst I occurs a total of nine times. The
word dates back to 1741. The 1992 Guinness Book of World Records calls floccinaucinihilipilification
the longest real word in the Oxford English Dictionary, and refers to pneumonoultramicroscopicsilico-
volcanokoniosis as the longest made-up one.

(28) ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM = the belief which opposes removing the tie between
church and state.
Probably the most popular of the "longest words" in recent decades.

(27) HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS = honorableness.

The word first appeared in English in 1599, and in 1721 was listed by Bailey's Dictionary as the longest
word in English. It was used by Shakespeare in Love's Labor's Lost (Costard; Act V, Scene I):

"O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.

I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon."

Shakespeare does not use any other words over 17 letters in length.

(27) ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHICALLY
The longest unhyphenated word in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.), joint with
ethylenediaminetetraacetate (see below).

(27) ANTITRANSUBSTANTIATIONALIST = one who doubts that consecrated bread and wine actually
change into the body and blood of Christ.

(21) DISPROPORTIONABLENESS and (21) INCOMPREHENSIBILITIES

These are described by the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest words in common
usage.

Some say SMILES is the longest word because there is a MILE between the first and last letters!
Chemical Terms
Two chemical terms (3,641 and 1,913 letters long) have appeared in the Guinness Book of World
Records. They were withdrawn because they have never been used by chemists, and there is no
theoretical limit to the length of possible legitimate chemical terms. A DNA molecule could have a name
of over 1,000,000,000 letters if it was written out in full.

(1,185) ACETYLSERYLTYROSYLSERYLISOLEUCYLTHREONYLSERYLPROLYLSERYL-
GLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLVALYLPHENYLALANYLLEUCYLSERYLSERYLVALYL-
TRYPTOPHYLALANYLASPARTYLPROLYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYLLEUCYL-
ASPARAGINYLVALYLCYSTEINYLTHREONYLSERYLSERYLLEUCYLGLYCYLASPARAGINYL-
GLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLGLUTAMINYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLALANYL-
ARGINYLTHREONYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLVALYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYL-
ALANYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLLYSYLPROLYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYL-
GLUTAMINYLSERYLTHREONYLVALYLARGINYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYLGLYCYLASPARTYL-
VALYLTYROSYLLYSYLVALYLTYROSYLARGINYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLALANYLVALYL-
LEUCYLASPARTYLPROLYLLEUCYLISOLEUCYLTHREONYLALANYLLEUCYLLEUCYLGLYCYL-
THREONYLPHENYLALANYLASPARTYLTHREONYLARGINYLASPARAGINYLARGINYL-
ISOLEUCYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLVALYLGLUTAMYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYL-
GLUTAMINYLSERYLPROLYLTHREONYLTHREONYLALANYLGLUTAMYLTHREONYLLEUCYL-
ASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLARGINYLARGINYLVALYLASPARTYLASPARTYLALANYL-
THREONYLVALYLALANYLISOLEUCYLARGINYLSERYLALANYLASPARAGINYLISOLEUCYL-
ASPARAGINYLLEUCYLVALYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYLVALYLARGINYLGLYCYL-
THREONYLGLYCYLLEUCYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLASPARAGINYLTHREONYL-
PHENYLALANYLGLUTAMYLSERYLMETHIONYLSERYLGLYCYLLEUCYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYL-
THREONYLSERYLALANYLPROLYLALANYLSERINE = Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain.
This word has appeared in the American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts and is thus considered
by some to be the longest real word.

(39) TETRAMETHYLDIAMINOBENZHYDRYLPHOSPHINOUS = a type of acid.

This is the longest chemical term in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.). It does not have its own
entry but appears under a citation for another word.

(37) FORMALDEHYDETETRAMETHYLAMIDOFLUORIMUM
Chemical term in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.).

(37) DIMETHYLAMIDOPHENYLDIMETHYLPYRAZOLONE
Chemical term in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.).

(31) DICHLORODIPHENYLTRICHLOROETHANE = a pesticide used to kill lice; abbrv. DDT.

It is the longest word in the Macquarie Dictionary and is also in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed.).

(29) TRINITROPHENYLMETHYLNITRAMINE = a type of explosive.

This is the longest chemical term in Webster's Dictionary (3rd Ed.).

(27) ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACETATE
The longest unhyphenated word in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.), joint with
electroencephalographically (see above).

(26) ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACETIC = a type of acid; abbrv. EDTA.

This word appears in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.).
Place Names
There are many long place names around the world. Here are a few of the largest.

(85) TAUMATAWHAKATANGIHANGAKOAUAUOTAMATEATURIPUKAKAPIKIMAUNGAHORO-
NUKUPOKAIWHENUAKITANATAHU
A hill in New Zealand. This Maori name was in general use, but is now generally abbreviated to
Taumata. The name means: the summit of the hill, where Tamatea, who is known as the land eater, slid
down, climbed up and swallowed mountains, played on his nose flute to his loved one.

(66) GORSAFAWDDACHAIDRAIGODANHEDDOGLEDDOLONPENRHYNAREURDRAETH-
CEREDIGION
A town in Wales. The name means: the Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn
Road on the golden beach of Cardigan bay.

(58) LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH
A town in North Wales. The name roughly translates as: St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white
hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World
Records.

(41) CHARGOGAGOGMANCHARGOGAGOGCHARBUNAGUNGAMOG
Another name for Lake Webster in Massachusetts. Probably the longest name in the United States.
Alternative spellings are:
(44) CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAGOGGCHAUBUNAGUNGAMOGG,
(45) CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAGOGGCHAUBUNAGUNGAMAUGG,
(44) CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAGOGGCHABUNAGUNGAMAUGG.

(23) NUNATHLOOGAGAMIUTBINGOI
The Eskimo name for some dunes in Alaska, according to The Book of Names by J. N. Hook.