Thursday, March 1, 2012

The longest words in English


In summary:

Honorificabilitudinitatibus: longest word in Shakespeare's works; longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels.

Antidisestablishmentarianism: longest non-coined and nontechnical word.

Floccinaucinihilipilification: longest unchallenged nontechnical word.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: longest word in a major dictionary.

Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl...isoleucine: chemical name of Titin, the largest known protein. It has been disputed that this word or any chemical name can be accepted as the longest word because it is conceivable to write out DNA and have one incredibly long word that makes no sense to many really. And then when does it end. I could not find anyone foolish enough to have spelt this out but there is this:



Missing from the list is:

Acetyl­seryl­tyrosyl­seryl­iso­leucyl­threonyl­seryl­prolyl­seryl­glutaminyl­phenyl­alanyl­valyl­phenyl­alanyl­leucyl­seryl­seryl­valyl­tryptophyl­alanyl­aspartyl­prolyl­isoleucyl­glutamyl­leucyl­leucyl­asparaginyl­valyl­cysteinyl­threonyl­seryl­seryl­leucyl­glycyl­asparaginyl­glutaminyl­phenyl­alanyl­glutaminyl­threonyl­glutaminyl­glutaminyl­alanyl­arginyl­threonyl­threonyl­glutaminyl­valyl­glutaminyl­glutaminyl­phenyl­alanyl­seryl­glutaminyl­valyl­tryptophyl­lysyl­prolyl­phenyl­alanyl­prolyl­glutaminyl­seryl­threonyl­valyl­arginyl­phenyl­alanyl­prolyl­glycyl­aspartyl­valyl­tyrosyl­lysyl­valyl­tyrosyl­arginyl­tyrosyl­asparaginyl­alanyl­valyl­leucyl­aspartyl­prolyl­leucyl­isoleucyl­threonyl­alanyl­leucyl­leucyl­glycyl­threonyl­phenyl­alanyl­aspartyl­threonyl­arginyl­asparaginyl­arginyl­isoleucyl­isoleucyl­glutamyl­valyl­glutamyl­asparaginyl­glutaminyl­glutaminyl­seryl­prolyl­threonyl­threonyl­alanyl­glutamyl­threonyl­leucyl­aspartyl­alanyl­threonyl­arginyl­arginyl­valyl­aspartyl­aspartyl­alanyl­threonyl­valyl­alanyl­isoleucyl­arginyl­seryl­alanyl­asparaginyl­isoleucyl­asparaginyl­leucyl­valyl­asparaginyl­glutamyl­leucyl­valyl­arginyl­glycyl­threonyl­glycyl­leucyl­tyrosyl­asparaginyl­glutaminyl­asparaginyl­threonyl­phenyl­alanyl­glutamyl­seryl­methionyl­seryl­glycyl­leucyl­valyl­tryptophyl­threonyl­seryl­alanyl­prolyl­alanyl­serine: longest published word.

Lopado­temacho­selacho­galeo­kranio­leipsano­drim­hypo­trimmato­silphio­parao­melito­katakechy­meno­kichl­epi­kossypho­phatto­perister­alektryon­opte­kephallio­kigklo­peleio­lagoio­siraio­baphe­tragano­pterygon: longest word coined by a major author is also the longest words ever to appear in literature.

Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism: longest non-coined word in a major dictionary.

Taumata­whaka­tangi­hanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turipukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitana­tahu: longest place name (for a hill in NZ you may know as Taumata).


Did that all look like a blur of letters to you? I feel like I should be playing find a word.

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