What is the largest word in english

Are you ready for it? Here it is: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, the name of a lung disease that is the result of inhaling silica dust, such as from a volcano.

Don’t worry, no English native speaker will expect you to use this word in daily conversations or even essays! However, as any teacher would tell you, it is beneficial for your progress to challenge yourself by expanding your vocabulary with high-level words – including long words that may seem intimidating at first.

So, to help you get into the habit of enrichening your vocabulary, here are five long English words you can actually use:

Incomprehensibilities (21 letters)

The plural form of incomprehensibility, this noun is used for things or events that are difficult to understand because they are complex or shrouded in mystery. For example, the Bermuda Triangle and disappearance of flight MH370 are incomprehensibilities of the modern age that may never be solved. Or for some students, the incomprehensibilities of science and math made them choose a social science major.

Interdisciplinary (17 letters)

This adjective is often used in non-traditional schools to describe a new yet growing approach to education. An interdisciplinary method of teaching uses two or more different subjects to explore a concept, like government systems or humans’ impact on biodiversity. These concepts are then covered in, for example, art class, social science, language arts and mathematics. An increasing number of schools in big Indonesian cities are adopting the interdisciplinary philosophy.

Inconsequential (15 letters)

When something is inconsequential, it is meaningless or not important to you. For example, even in this digital age of (over) sharing, many people still believe that social media is inconsequential and refuse to join Instagram or Facebook. This is a great adjective to use when you want to emphasize just how little something means to you.

This adverb form of hypothetical describes the action of discussing or thinking about something that can possibly happen but is not (yet) a reality. For example, high school students who are interested in continuing their studies at the same British universities may talk hypothetically about staying at a dormitory or renting an apartment together. When we are speaking hypothetically about something, nothing is set in stone.

This adjective is a synonym for “secret” or “sneaky” and describes something you don’t want anyone else to know. For example, if you are curious about an ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, you might have a surreptitious look at their social media account. Or someone who claims to be on a low-fat diet may take a surreptitious bite out of a hamburger.

If you want to add long English words like this to your vocabulary and be able to really use them, you need to break them down into their basic parts.

Today we’ll go over 10 of the longest words in English, teach you how to break them down and show you how they can build your vocabulary.

Contents

• The 10 Longest Words in English
• • Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
  • Floccinaucinihilipilification
  • Incomprehensibility
  • Surreptitious
  • Uncharacteristically
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
  • Subdermatoglyphic
  • Abstentious
  • Uncopyrightable
  • Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
• How to Learn the Longest Words in English
• • Break each word down into manageable parts
  • Use vocabulary memory tricks
• Why Learn the Longest Words in English?
• • To communicate more effectively
  • Be able to understand more words 
  • Learn more about word origins
  • Gain practice with written and spoken English

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It's the kind of random thought that pops into your head in while typing a long word that you never get right on the first try: What is the longest word in the English language? You know it can't be the one that you're struggling to type, so what is it?

It would truly shocking if you were trying to type the longest word, as it isn't really a word anyone uses. At all. The word is: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It's pronounced noo-muh-now-uhl-truh-mai-kruh-skaa-puhk-si-luh-kow-vaal-kay-now-kow-nee-ow-suhs. Just try saying that out loud.

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According to Merriam-Webster, those 45 letters creating 19 syllables mean "caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust and occurring especially in miners."

But here's the thing: That's not a term anyone — even doctors — use to describe an actual condition. The word was likely made up by Everett K. Smith in the 1930s, when he was president of the National Puzzler's League. This was a group that loved crosswords and, by extension, words themselves. Smith intended to create the longest word by mimicking medical terminology, even if there wasn't actually a disease to attach the word to. He just kind of made up the entire thing.

Many of the longest words in English do describe real medical conditions though. Take pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism, an inherited disorder that results in short stature and a round face.

Outside the medical world, we have words like "antidisestablishmentarianism," which refers to someone who was opposed to the disestablishment of the Church of England. Sure, it's not a word we use a lot today, but it was used quite a bit at the end of the 19th century.

Some record-setting words are the longest within particular parameters. "Uncopyrightable," which refers to any work that cannot be copyrighted, is the longest word in English without any repeating letters. Words like this are called "isograms."

Then there's the longest word made of only vowels "euouae," which is a term that comes from medieval music. On the other hand, you have the longest word without any vowels, "tsktsk." You probably know this one. It's an onomatopoeia (another great long word!) for the sound you make when someone disappoints you.

Finally, you know there's got to be a word to describe someone who makes a habit of using long words. Surprisingly, it's only kind of long itself: "sesquipedalian."

Now That's Looooooooong

The longest word in the world, however, is not the one created by Smith. It's one that's so long most articles (including this one) use ellipses in order to fit it on a page: "methionylthreonylthreonyglutaminylarginyl ... isoleucine." It has 189,819 letters, and if you were to say it out loud, it would take more than three hours. What on Earth requires so many letters? The full chemical name of the largest-known protein, titin, which is found in humans.

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