What is the longest word in the English language?

skysmom65

The longest word in any major English language dictionary is pneumono­ultra­micro­scopic­silico­volcano­coniosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease, but research has discovered that this word was originally intended as a hoax. It has since been used in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary contains pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters). The longest non-technical word is flocci­nauci­nihili­pili­fication at 29 letters. Consisting of a series of Latin words meaning "nothing" and defined as "the act of estimating something as worthless," its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741.[2][3][4] In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator Robert Byrd [5], and at the White House by Bill Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry, albeit sarcastically.[6] Anti­dis­establishment­arianism (a nineteenth century movement in England opposed to the separation of church and state) at 28 letters is still in colloquial currency for being one of the longest words in the English language. http://www.answers.com/longest%20word%20in%20the%20English%20language Dec 21 06, 6:36 PM

zbeckabee

See Questions: 59936 6030 53377 60531 61699 etc, etc, etc Dec 21 06, 7:57 PM

intergalactic9

The longest word in English is PNEUMONO­ULTRA­MICRO­SCOPIC­SILICO­VOLCANO­CONIOSIS (also spelled PNEUMONO­ULTRA­MICRO­SCOPIC­SILICO­VOLCANO­KONIOSIS) which are all 45 letters long! On this site you will find the definition too. http://www.fun-with-words.com/word_longest.html Jun 14 08, 3:00 PM