Curious To Learn Some Of The Longest Words That Exist In The English Language? Find Out What They Mean
Did you know that the longest English word contains 189,891 letters? It takes nearly 3.5 hours to pronounce this word—it is the chemical name of Titin—the largest protein known to mankind.
You will never find this unbelievably long word in a dictionary or hear it in a spelling bee because the word would occupy 12 pages. But the English language has many absurdly long words that are used more often. Most of these words are scientific or technical terms and may take a few seconds to pronounce and not hours, but you might need a few hours to remember how they are spelled. If you are curious to learn some of the longest English words and what they mean, read on to find out!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters)
Let us kick-start the list with perhaps the most interesting word of all! The word ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ was popularized by the fictional movie Mary Poppins. In the film, Mary Poppins used this ridiculously long word, which translates to “when you have nothing to say.” You may find this word in some dictionaries but not all.
Since you will not find the chemical name of Tintin in most dictionaries, this word—consisting of forty-five letters—is commonly recognized as the actual longest English word. Yes, ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’ is also a technical term that you might not use or hear in a daily conversation. But this word is often used by medical professionals to describe a particular lung disease that occurs when quartz dust or silica is inhaled.
Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)
This non-technical term is the longest unchallenged word that you may not stumble upon in many dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster. Floccinaucinihilipilification is described as the habit or act of regarding or reporting something as unimportant or worthless. It is commonly used to express ironic humor.
Pseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters)
This technical term describes a mild variant of inherited pseudohypoparathyroidism that invigorates the symptoms of the disease or condition but is not related to atypical levels of phosphorus and calcium in the blood.
Antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters)
Antidisestablishmentarianism is a term that describes a 19th-century political movement in Britain that aimed at separating the state from the church. This political movement was initiated to disestablish the church— forbidding the institution from serving as the official state church of Ireland, Wales, and England.
If you are planning to prepare for a Scrabble game, or trivia night, or simply want to expand your English vocabulary—these words might help.
