Yes, this article is about some of the longest English words on record. But, you won’t find the very longest word in English in this article. That one word would span about fifty-seven pages. It’s the chemical name for the titin protein found in humans. Its full name has 189,819 letters
Lucky for you, we’ve got a handy guide to some of the most sesquipedalian (that means long) words, outside of the fields of science and medicine.
- Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: (forty-five letters) is lung disease caused by the inhalation of silica or quartz dust.
- Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism: (thirty letters) is a mild form of inherited pseudohypoparathyroidism that simulates the symptoms of the disorder but isn’t associated with abnormal levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood.
- Floccinaucinihilipilification: Your nephew’s ragged childhood comic collection probably qualifies for this word, which is the act of declaring something as valueless. Of course, with this many syllables, the word itself is somewhat valueless as almost no one uses it.
- Antidisestablishmentarianism: When this word was coined, it was like a rebellion against a rebellion. When citizens demanded governments remove state support for churches (in particular Anglican churches), this countermovement sprang up to oppose the separation of church and state.
- Honorificabilitudinitatibus: It may be out of date, but this elegant word is seen in Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost” to describe someone who acts in a valiant or honorable way. Another point of pride, it’s the longest word in the English language to feature only alternating consonants and vowels.
- Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia: Here’s a linguist’s favorite joke. This extended word literally means the fear of long words. And at a whopping 35 letters, we can’t say we blame those folks.
- Strengths: has only nine letters, but all except one of them are consonants! This earns the word a Guinness World Record. It is also one of the longest monosyllabic words of the English language.
- Euouae: is six letters long, but all of the letters are vowels. It holds two Guinness World Records. It’s the longest English word composed exclusively of vowels, and it has the most consecutive vowels of any word. If you are wondering about its meaning, it’s a musical term from medieval times.
