What is the longest word in the English language?

bookaddict

The Guinness Book of Records, in its 1992 and subsequent editions, declared the "longest real word" in the English language to be floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis also appeared in the Oxford dictionary, but the actual medical name of this disease is pneumoconiosis, leaving it controversial because it may have been made up by Everett Smith. James Joyce, made up nine 100-letter and one 101-letter words in his novel 'Finnegans Wake,' the most famous of which is: Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronn­tuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk, but this is a made-up word. If you are thinking about places, the longest place name in English is Taumatawhakatang­ihangakoauauot­amateaturipukaka­pikimaunga­horonuku­pokaiwhenuak­itanatahu, at 85 letters long. This information and more can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_the_English_language Oct 12 05, 7:05 PM

braniac1

The single longest real word in the English dictionary is "Ornicopytheobiblopsychocrystarroscioaerogenethliometeoroaustrohieroanthropoi- cichthyopyrosiderochpnomyoalectryoophiobotanopegohydrorhabdocrithoaleuroalphi-tohalomolybdoclerobeloaxinocoscinodactyliogeolithopessopscphocatoptrotephraoeir-ochiroomychodactyloarithstichooxogeloscogastrogyrocerobletonooenoscapulinaniac" consisting of 310 letters and meaning a deluded human who practices divination or forecasting. http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wow1/Point%20less/longest%20words.htm [Added reference - McG] Jan 16 07, 3:07 PM