The Longest Word in the Dictionary | Britannica Dictionary (2024)

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Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisis the longest word entered in the most trusted English dictionaries. The definition is "a lung disease caused by inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust." (Note that it is not entered in the Learner's Dictionary--it is considered too specialized of a term to qualify for entry in this type of dictionary.)

There are other long words that exist, but they are rarely or never used in a sentence. Two examples of words like this are "antidisestablishmentarianism" and "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

There is a lake in Massachusetts called Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. (It is also sometimes called Webster Lake.)

But the longest string of letters used to describe something is actually the chemical name for a protein, and it has 189,819 letters and takes more than 3 hours to say.

I hope this helps.

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The Longest Word in the Dictionary | Britannica Dictionary (2024)

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The Longest Word in the Dictionary | Britannica Dictionary? ›

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word

longest word
The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters), a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Longest_word_in_English
entered in the most trusted English dictionaries.

What is the full 189,819 lettered word for titin? ›

1. methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl…isoleucine. You'll notice there's an ellipsis here, and that's because this word, in total, is 189,819 letters long, and it's the chemical name for the largest known protein, titin.

What is the 200000 letter word? ›

As we saw at the start of our hunt, according to a lot of sources the longest word is the technical name for the protein titin. It is the same across all languages and has nearly 200,000 letters. Here's a snippet of the first 1,000 characters!

Which word is longer than Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? ›

Longest word in English
WordLetters
methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl...isoleucine189,819
methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl...serine1,909
lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsano...pterygon183
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis45
4 more rows

What is longest word in dictionary? ›

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Language: English. In most English dictionaries, the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest one you are going to find at a whopping 45 letters long. This word refers to a lung disease caused by silica dust.

What word takes 3 hours to say? ›

isoleucine is the chemical name for the protein of “titin” also known as “connectin.” The largest known protein that consists of 26, 926 amino acids is made up of 189, 819 letters and can take about three hours to pronounce.

What is the 2nd longest word in the world? ›

How To Pronounce The 10 Longest Words In The Dictionary
  • Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters) ...
  • Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters) ...
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters) ...
  • Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters) ...
  • Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)
Jul 8, 2023

What is the most shortest word? ›

The shortest word is a. Some might wonder about the word I since it consists of one letter, too. In sound, a is shorter because it is a monophthong (consists of one vowel), while I is a diphthong. Both do consist of one letter in the English writing system, and in most fonts I is the narrowest letter.

What is the longest word in Russian? ›

Most likely one of the longest Russian words is a chemical term, тетрагидропиранилциклопентилтетрагидропиридопиридиновая (tetragidropiranilciklopentiltetragidropiridopiridinovaya), which contains 55 letters.

What word is over 1000 letters? ›

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis meaning

Everett came up with this word as a sarcastic term for long medical terms and a synonym for silicosis - a lung disease caused by inhaling sand and ash dust.

Is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu the longest word in the world? ›

It's Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. This 1,000-foot hill near the township Porangahau holds the Guinness World Record for longest place name with 85 characters.

What's the 1st longest word? ›

14 of the longest words in English
  1. 1 Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (forty-five letters) ...
  2. 2 Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (thirty letters) ...
  3. 3 Floccinaucinihilipilification (twenty-nine letters) ...
  4. 4 Antidisestablishmentarianism (twenty-eight letters) ...
  5. 5 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (thirty-four letters)
Jun 21, 2023

Is methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl isoleucine a real word? ›

'Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl... isoleucine' is the chemical name of 'titin'. That one word would span about fifty-seven pages.

What are the D words? ›

List 10 words that start with 'D'.
  • Dewdrop.
  • Dog.
  • Drive.
  • Dusk.
  • Dawn.
  • Debit.
  • Dive.
  • Dependent.

What is the 52 letter word? ›

Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic. This word is made up of 52 letters. Certainly, it's the longest word on this list but you won't find it in major dictionaries. It's a pretty specialized term that describes the spa waters in Bath, England.

What is the longest word has 189819 letters takes three hours to pronounce? ›

A word of warning… the “word” takes about 3.5 hours to say. The word is 189,819 letters long. It's actually the name of a giant protein called Titin.

What is the full name of methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl? ›

So what's the word? Wikipedia's says that it's "Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl ... isoleucine" (ellipses necessary), which is the "chemical name of titin, the largest known protein." Also, there's some dispute about whether this is really a word.

Is the 189 819 letter word real? ›

What is the longest known English word? 'Longest' word has 189,819 letters, takes three hours to pronounce. 'Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl... isoleucine' is the chemical name of 'titin'.

What is the 189 819 letter word meaning? ›

The longest word in English has 189,819 letters and takes 3 hours to pronounce. This is a technical term for the chemical composition of titin. Titin is the largest known protein responsible for maintaining the passive elasticity of the muscles.

What does Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis mean and how do you pronounce it? ›

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. [ noo-muh-noh-uhl-truh-mahy-kruh-skop-ik-sil-i-koh-vol-key-noh-koh-nee-oh-sis, nyoo- ] show ipa. noun. an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.

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