12 Longest & most Difficult English Words

1. Honorificabilitudinitatibus

• 27 letters
• appeared in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act V, Scene I
• means “invincible glorious” or “Honorableness.”
• ablative plural of the Latin contrived honorificabilitudinitas, which is an extension of honorificabilis meaning “honorableness.”
• was spoken by Costard in Shakespeare’s plays:

O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.

I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;

for thou art not so long by the head as

honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier

swallowed than a flap-dragon.

2. Antidisestablishmentarianism

• 28 letters
• means “opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England”
• it is the political philosophy that is opposed to the separation of the church and state.
• originated in the context of the 19th century Church of England, antidisestablishmentarians were opposed to proposals to remove its status as the state church of England.
• has been quoted once by the British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, 1809- 1898.
• can be broken down as follows:

~ism………………..The philosophy of

~arian……………….those people who belive in

~anti…………………opposition to

~dis…………………..the removal of

~establishment…….The Church of England as the official state church

3. Floccinauccinihilipilification

This 30- letter-word is a non-scientific English word and it appears in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. It is longer than antidisestablishmentarianism. The 1992 Guinness Book of World Records calls floccinaucinihilipilification “the longest real word in the Oxford English Dictionary,” whereas it calls pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis “the longest made-up word in the Oxford English Dictionary.” It means “act or habit to deny the value of some particular things” but some dictionaries translate it as “the act of considering something to be worthless.” It was formed by Estonian scholars, who searched for as many Latin words meaning “nothing” or “not very much as possible”: flocci (means “a little bit,” but literally it means “a bit of wool”), nauci (means very little), nihili (means “nothing”), pili (means “very little”); fused them together, and then added the suffix “fication” on the end, to give the sense of an action.

This word has been used by Sir Walter Scott and Senators Robert Byrd and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. It was used by Senator Jesse Helms in 1999 during the debate on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [Randolph V. Cinco]. It also appeared on March 14, 1996, in “Zippy,” a comic strip distributed by King Features Syndicate:

Do you think I may be too quick to find fault with things and people, Zippy?

Yeh.

Th’ ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ process.

Th’ what?

Floccinaucinihilipilification!! It means ‘the estimation of something as valueless’!

You’ve been randomly reading th’ dictionary, haven’t you?

Yes. That and my natural tendency toward antifloccinaucinihilipilification!!

Floccinaucinihilipilification was also used by Press Secretary Mike McCurry in his December 6, 1995, White House Press Briefing in discussing Congressional Budget Office estimates and assumptions: “But if you—as a practical matter of estimating the economy, the difference is not great. There’s a little bit of floccinaucinihilipilification going on here.”

4. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

1949: Parker & Young (unpublished song-title): Supercalafajalistickespialadojus.

1951: Parker & Young (song-title): Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus; or, The super song.

1964: R. M. & R. B; Sherman (song-title): Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

1967: Decisions U.S. Courts involving Copyright 1965-66 488 The complaint alleges copyright infringement of plaintiff’s song `Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus’ by defendants’ song ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.’ (All variants of this tongue twister will hereinafter be referred to collectively as ‘the word’.)

Above citations show that this stunning word has been noted for its first four letters from 1949 to 1967.

This 34-letter word appears in the Oxford English Dictionary. It is a word specifically created for a song in the movie Mary Poppins until its film version of the musical was popular enough that everyone got to know this word.

5. Hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies

This 39-letter long is the longest word found in Gould’s Medical Dictionary. It is a surgical terminology, which refers to surgical creation of a connection between the gall bladder and a hepatic duct and between the intestine and the gall bladder.

6. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

This 45-letter long word is the longest word found in dictionaries. According to the eighth edition of Webster dictionary, it means, “pneumoconiosis disease caused by inhaling small particles of quartzite.” This is the scientific name for a coal miner’s disease, which is particularly caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust. It is the lung disease that miners in Africa came down with from getting silicon silvers in their lungs.

On Feb. 23, 1935, the New York Herald-Tribune reported on page 3:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis succeeded electrophotomicro-graphically as the longest word in the English language recognized by the National Puzzlers’ League at the opening session of the organization’s 103d semi-annual meeting held yesterday at the Hotel New Yorker.

The puzzlers explained that the forty-five-letter word is the name of a special form of silicosis caused by ultra-microscopic particles of siliceous volcanic dust.

7. Antipericatametaanaparcircumvolutiorectumgustpoops

of the coprofied

This word has 50 letters. There is a display of one French writer’s ancient story in a library shelf, with this long English word as its book title.

8. Osseocaynisanguineoviscericartilagininervomedullary

This word has 51 letters. It is a terminology related to an anatomy. It appeared in a novel called “Headlong Hall” written by an English writer, 1785-1866.

9. Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic

Aequeo: equal (Latin, aequo)

Salino: containing salt (Latin, salinus)

Calcalino: calcium (Latin, calx)

Ceraceo: waxy (Latin, cera)

Aluminoso: alumina (Latin)

Cupreo: from “copper”

Vitriolic: resembling vitriol

This word is at 52 letters, describing the spa water at Bath, England. It was invented by the British Medical author, Dr. Edward Strother, 1675-1737. This word is composed of the following elements:

9. Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonn

bronntonnerronntuonnthunn

trovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk

This word has 100 letters. It appeared in the book titled “Finnegan wake” written by Irish author, Andean James Joyce, 1882- 1942. This word refers to the downfall of Adam and Eve.

10. Lopado temakho selakho galeo kranio-leipsano drim hypo­trimmato silphio kar-abo melito katakekhy meno kikhl epi­kossy-pho phatto perister alektryon opto keph-allio kigklo­peleio lagōio siraio bap-hē tragano pterýgōne

This word has 182 letters and is derived from the Greek word, originating from the drama script of comedy titled “ecclesiazusae” written by a Greek writer, Aristophanes, 448- 385. It refers to spicy foods that cooked from the remaining vegetables and beef. It is a frictional dish mentioned in Aristophanes’ comedy Assemblywomen.

11. Methionylglutaminylarginyltyros-ylglutamylserylleucylphen-ylalanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylgl-utamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalan-ylphenylalanylvalylprolyphenylalanY-lvalythreonylleucylglycylaspartylp-rolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglutam-inylsErylleucyllysylisoleucylasp-artylthreonylleucylIsoleucylglutam-ylalanylglycylalanylasparthlalanylleucy-lglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylp-henylalanylseRylaspartylprolylleucylal-anylaspartylglycylpRolylthreOnylisoleuc-ylglutaminylasPfraginylalanylthreonyll-eucylarfinylalanylphenylalanylalanylal-anylglycylvalythreonylprolylalanylglut-aminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylm-ethionylleucylalanylleuOylisoleucylargi-nylglutaminyllysyhistidylprolylthreonylis-oleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylmethion-yltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphen-ylalanylasparaginyllysyglycylisoleucylas-partylglutamylphenylalanylthrosylalanyl-glutaminylcsteinylglutamyllysylvalylgly-cylvalylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalnyl-aspartylvalylprolylvalylglUtaminylglutam-ylserylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylgl-utaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylas-paraginyvalylalanylprolylisoleucylprolyliso-leucylphenylalanylisoleucylphenylalanylisol-eucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylasp-artylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylgluta-minylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginy-lglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrOsylleucylleucylsery-larginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanyl-glutamYlasparainylarginylalanylalanylleucyl-prolylleucylasparaginylhistidylleucylValylala-nyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginy-lalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglg-ycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylserylalanylp-rolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalany-lisoleucylaspartylalanylglycylalanylalanylgly-cylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisole-ucylvalyllysylisoIeucylisoleucylglutamylgluta-minylHistidylasparaginyliSoleucylglutamylpro-lylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylle-ucyllysylvalylphenylalanylcalylglutaminylproly-lmethionlysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, 18th edition, this 1,909-letter-long word is regarded as the world’s longest word in the English language. This word has also included in the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Abstracts. It is the longest real word of a Tryptophan Synthetase (its scientific name is Methionylglutaminy…serine) A protein, an enzyme that has 267 amino acids which describes a protein in the amino acid of a strand of DNA. The shortened version of this protein is known as titin, or sometimes conectin, which is involved in striated muscle formation. Its empirical formula is C132983H211861N36149O40883S693.

12. Hippopotomonstrosequippeddaliophobia

This English word has 36 letters. It is somewhat ironic that the word for “fear of long words” as it should be has a length of 6.2 cm.