posted on Jun, 21 2003 @ 12:28 PM
Originally posted by ultra_phoenix
Originally posted by William
digitalantidisestablishmentarianism
Is it the most long word in the english tongue ?
35 letters, quite impressive.
Antidisestablishmentarianism (a movement opposed to the separation of church and state) at 28 letters is popularly believed to be the longest word. It
is the "best-known".
The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (defined as "a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust") is certainly
the longest word ever to appear in a non-technical dictionary of English. This 45 letter word first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in
1936.
The Guinness Book of Records in 1992 (and subsequent editions) declares the "longest real word" in the English language to be
floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters. Defined as the act of estimating as worthless, its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741.
Everett Smith's prediction seems to have been proven true by the 207,000+ letter word cited by the Guinness Book of Records which allegedly
represents the name for human mitochondrial DNA. If I posted that one, I would probably get banned for bandwith theft.
www.wikipedia.org...