What is the longest word in English?
The longest word in major English dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, with 45 letters. It describes a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine volcanic dust.
This word was invented in 1935 by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzlers' League, specifically to be the longest word. It appears in dictionaries mainly because of its fame, although doctors use the shorter term silicosis. It breaks down into parts meaning lungs, ultra-microscopic, silica, volcano and disease.
Other famous long words include supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, 34 letters, from the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and antidisestablishmentarianism, 28 letters, describing opposition to removing the Church of England's official status. Floccinaucinihilipilification, 29 letters, means judging something as worthless.
Even longer words
The full chemical name of the protein titin has about 189,000 letters and would take hours to say, but it is not considered a real dictionary word. Place names can be long too: a hill in New Zealand has a Māori name with 85 letters.
Did You Know?
The fear of long words is jokingly called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.