The Longest Word in the Dictionary | Britannica Dictionary (2024)

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Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisis the longest word entered in the most trusted English dictionaries. The definition is "a lung disease caused by inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust." (Note that it is not entered in the Learner's Dictionary--it is considered too specialized of a term to qualify for entry in this type of dictionary.)

There are other long words that exist, but they are rarely or never used in a sentence. Two examples of words like this are "antidisestablishmentarianism" and "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

There is a lake in Massachusetts called Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. (It is also sometimes called Webster Lake.)

But the longest string of letters used to describe something is actually the chemical name for a protein, and it has 189,819 letters and takes more than 3 hours to say.

I hope this helps.

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The Longest Word in the Dictionary | Britannica Dictionary (2024)

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The Longest Word in the Dictionary | Britannica Dictionary? ›

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word

longest word
The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters), a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Longest_word_in_English
entered in the most trusted English dictionaries.

What is the longest word in the dictionary answer? ›

The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters), a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis.

What is the full 189,819 lettered word for titin? ›

1. methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl…isoleucine. You'll notice there's an ellipsis here, and that's because this word, in total, is 189,819 letters long, and it's the chemical name for the largest known protein, titin.

What is the 200000 letter word? ›

As we saw at the start of our hunt, according to a lot of sources the longest word is the technical name for the protein titin. It is the same across all languages and has nearly 200,000 letters. Here's a snippet of the first 1,000 characters!

Which word has 188000 letters? ›

methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl… At over 180,000 letters long, the chemical name of the protein titin is often said to technically be the longest English word. If spoken out loud, this word takes over three hours to say!

What is a 190000 letter word? ›

The longest word in English has 189,819 letters and takes 3 hours to pronounce. This is a technical term for the chemical composition of titin. Titin is the largest known protein responsible for maintaining the passive elasticity of the muscles.

What word has 189819 letters and takes 3 hours to pronounce? ›

Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl… isoleucine is the chemical name for the protein of “titin” also known as “connectin.” The largest known protein that consists of 26, 926 amino acids is made up of 189, 819 letters and can take about three hours to pronounce.

What is the shortest word? ›

Answer and Explanation: The three shortest words in the English language are I, a, and o although the word o is only usually used in poetry and song lyrics as a contraction or other words. Other than single-letter words there are numerous 2-letter words in English such as on, if and many others.

What is the 2nd longest word in the world? ›

How To Pronounce The 10 Longest Words In The Dictionary
  • Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters) ...
  • Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters) ...
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters) ...
  • Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters) ...
  • Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)
Jul 8, 2023

What's the shortest word in the world? ›

The shortest word is a. Some might wonder about the word I since it consists of one letter, too. In sound, a is shorter because it is a monophthong (consists of one vowel), while I is a diphthong. Both do consist of one letter in the English writing system, and in most fonts I is the narrowest letter.

What is the 3 hour word pronunciation? ›

A word of warning… the “word” takes about 3.5 hours to say. The word is 189,819 letters long. It's actually the name of a giant protein called Titin. Proteins are usually named by mashing-up the names of the chemicals making them.

What is the longest word in Russian? ›

Most likely one of the longest Russian words is a chemical term, тетрагидропиранилциклопентилтетрагидропиридопиридиновая (tetragidropiranilciklopentiltetragidropiridopiridinovaya), which contains 55 letters.

What is the world's largest spelling? ›

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. In most English dictionaries, the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest one you are going to find at a whopping 45 letters long.

Why is titin so long? ›

It has 189,819 letters, making it the longest word in the English language. The reason it's so long is because titin is formed of 244 proteins, and the name of each one was joined together to create a single word. Unsurprisingly, you won't find it in the English Dictionary because of how long and specialized it is.

Is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious a real word? ›

A nonsense word, originally used esp. by children, and typically expressing excited approbation: fantastic, fabulous. See also supercalifragilistic adj. Made popular by the Walt Disney film 'Mary Poppins' in 1964.

What's the longest German word? ›

As explained above, the longest “official” word in German, in the sense that you could find it in a dictionary, is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, weighing in at 63 letters long. This likely takes the top spot on any list of top 10 long German words.

What is the 52 letter word? ›

Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic. This word is made up of 52 letters. Certainly, it's the longest word on this list but you won't find it in major dictionaries. It's a pretty specialized term that describes the spa waters in Bath, England.

Is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious a actual word? ›

The word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious appears, for example, in the Oxford English dictionary. So their editors believe it's sufficiently well used to qualify as a real word. It notes that the word dates from the 1940s, but was popularised in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins.”

What is the number 1 longest word? ›

The longest English word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is forty-five letters long and refers to a type of lung disease.

Is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis the longest word in the dictionary? ›

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word entered in the most trusted English dictionaries.

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