longest word in the english language

Longest Word in the English Language

Which is the longest word in the English language? How many letters long is this word? Well, this article provides information on not only the longest word in terms of letter size, but also throws light on some other interesting words in the English language!

Ever since we can remember, we have been trying to pick up new words, from people we meet in our day-to-day lives. English is truly an amazing language, uniting people across the globe by enabling us all to communicate our thoughts and ideas. It's a language that has been able to bridge gaps between culturally and economically different nations. Today, because of the common thread of English, we have the outsourcing business flourishing rapidly. However, how much do we know about the English language? Of the myriads of words in the vast sea of English language, have we ever wondered which is the longest word ever! Longest Word in the English Language Determining the longest words in the English language is not a very easy task. The answer will vary depending on how one actually defines a word. There are various technical words that are simply very long, with the longest being the chemical name for the protein titin: Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl...isoleucine, which comprises 189,819 letters. However, if we consider chemical names, things will get really confusing. To make things simpler let's consider the English Oxford Dictionary as a reference. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the title of the longest word in the English language goes to the 45 letter word, 'Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis'. Meaning of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Coined in 1935 by Everett M. Smith, the then president of the National Puzzlers' League, at its annual meeting, the word Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the name of a respiratory lung disease conduced by increased exposure to silica dust. Inhalation of microscopic silicone dust particles expelled from volcanic eruptions leads to this respiratory disease. Pronunciation of this word is difficult because of its length and for those with the fear of long words or Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, this word seems to be all the more intimidating. However, if we break it up it will become easier. Consider the pronunciation break up: NYOO-muh-noh-ul-truh-my-kruh-skop-ik-SIL-i-koh-vol-kay-noh-koh-nee-OH-siss Longest Word in the English Language without Repeating Letters The two 15 letter words uncopyrightable & dermatoglyphics are the words in the English language which do not have any letter repeated. Let's find out a little about these two words. Uncopyrightable: This word in simple terms means ineligible for copyright. Dermatoglyphics: This word refers to the study of fingerprints and toe prints. Longest Word with All Vowels in Order The 23 letter word 'Pancreaticoduodenostomy' happens to be the longest word which has all vowels in order of 'a, e, i, o, u'. There is a duplication of the vowel 'a' in the series, however, this is not taken into consideration. This word Pancreaticoduodenostomy means a formation of an opening connecting the pancreas to the duodenum artificially by surgery. Longest Word in Which All Letters Appear Twice The 16 letter word 'Esophagographers' is the longest word that has all letters appearing twice! Quite an intriguing fact! An esophagographer is a person conducting the radiographic visualization of the food pipe of esophagus. Longest Word with Letters in Alphabetical Order We have an amazing 8 letter word in the English language that consists of all its letters in alphabetical order. This word is 'aegilops', which in the medical dictionary stands for the fistula formed in the inner corner of the eye. In botanical terms it stands for great wild-oat grass. The English language is truly an intriguing language. The more we delve into it, the more we realize we hardly know anything about it. There are scores of different words, idioms, usages, etc. yet to be discovered by us. As we live each day, let us make it a point to add more words to our vocabulary and increase our knowledge base of this wonderful language!

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