From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The identity of the longest word in English depends upon the
of what constitutes a
in the , as well as how length should be compared. In addition to words derived naturally from
(without any known intentional invention), English allows
may be arbitrarily long. Length may be understood in terms of
and number of written , or (less commonly)
and the number of .
Characteristics
Chemical name of , the largest known protein
T disputed whether it is a word
Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl...serine
Longest published word
Longest word
by a major author, the longest word ever to appear in literature.
transliteration
Longest word in a major dictionary
T coined to be the longest word
Famous for being created for the Mary Poppins
Longest non-coined word in a major dictionary
Longest unchallenged nontechnical word
Longest non-coined and nontechnical word
Longest word in ' longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels.
The longest word in any of the major
is , a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine
particles, specifi medically, it is the same as . The word was deliberately coined to be the longest word in English, and has since been used in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim.
(30 letters).
does not contain antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters), as the editors found no widespread, sustained usage of the word in its original meaning. The longest word in that dictionary is
(27 letters).
The longest non-technical word in major dictionaries is
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.
has noted that most of the longest English words are not likely to occur in general text, meaning non-technical present-day text seen by casual readers, in which the author did not specifically intend to use an unusually long word. According to Eckler, the longest words likely to be encountered in general text are
and , with 22 letters each.
A computer study of over a million samples of normal English prose found that the longest word one is likely to encounter on an everyday basis is uncharacteristically, at 20 letters.
are abbreviated "i18n" and "l10n", respectively, the embedded number representing the number of letters between the first and the last.
In his play
(Ecclesiazousae), the
comedic playwright
created a word of 171 letters (183 in the
below), which describes a
by stringing together its ingredients:
(1743) holds the opening line: "Aldiborontiphoscophornio! Where left you Chrononhotonthologos?"
put these creations into the mouth of the phrenologist Mr. Cranium in his 1816 romp : osteosarchaematosplanchnochondroneuromuelous (44 characters) and osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary (51 characters).
made up nine 100-letter words plus one 101-letter word in his novel , the most famous of which is Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk. Appearing on the first page, it allegedly represents the symbolic thunderclap associated with the fall of . As it appears nowhere else except in reference to this passage, it is generally not accepted as a real word.
made mention of it in her semi-autobiographical novel , when the protagonist was reading Finnegans Wake.
"", the 34-letter title of a song from the movie , does appear in several dictionaries, but only as a
defined in reference to the song title. The attributed meaning is "a word that you say when you don't know what to say." The idea and invention of the word is credited to songwriters .
The English language permits the legitimate extension of existing words to serve new purposes by the addition of prefixes and suffixes. This is sometimes referred to as
construction. This process can create arbitrarily long words: for example, the prefixes pseudo (false, spurious) and anti (against, opposed to) can be added as many times as desired. A word like
(pertaining to the defense against aircraft) is easily extended to anti-anti-aircraft (pertaining to counteracting the defense against aircraft, a legitimate concept) and can from there be prefixed with an endless stream of "anti-"s, each time creating a new level of counteraction. More familiarly, the addition of numerous "great"s to a relative, e.g. great-great-great-grandfather, can produce words of arbitrary length. In , a 8192nd note may be called a .
is the longest common example of a word formed by
construction.
A number of scientific naming schemes can be used to generate arbitrarily long words.
nomenclature for organic chemical compounds is open-ended, giving rise to the 189,819-letter chemical name Methionylthreonylthreonyl...isoleucine for the protein also known as , which is involved in striated muscle formation. In nature, DNA molecules can be much bigger than protein molecules and therefore potentially be referred to with much longer chemical names. For example, the wheat chromosome 3B contains almost 1 billion base pairs, so the sequence of one of its strands, if written out in full like Adenilyladenilylguanilylcystidylthymidyl..., would be about 8 billion letters long. The longest published word, Acetylseryltyrosylseryliso...serine, referring to the coat protein of a certain strain of , was 1,185-letters long, and appeared in the 's
in 1964 and 1966. In 1965, the Chemical Abstracts Service overhauled its naming system and started discouraging excessively long names.
developed an open-ended system for naming powers of 10, in which one sexmilliaquingentsexagintillion, coming from the Latin name for 6560, is the name for 103(6560+1) = 1019683. Under the , it would be 106(6560) = 1039360. Sbiis Sabian's "Large Numbers" website states that the largest number to say (nine hundred ninety nine novemnonagintinongenti-enneennaconteennahectenonecxenaenneennaconteennahecte...nine hundred ninety-nine billion nine hundred ninety-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine) would take
years to say out, which would be the same amount of characters.
Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis is sometimes cited as the longest —it is a kind of . However, this name, proposed by , was invalidated by the .
Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides is the longest accepted binomial name. It is a species of .
Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic, at 52 letters, describing the
waters at , England, is attributed to Dr. Edward Strother (). The word is composed of the following elements:
Aequeo: equal (Latin, aequo)
Salino: containing salt (Latin, salinus)
Calcalino: calcium (Latin, calx)
Ceraceo: waxy (Latin, cera)
Aluminoso:
Cupreo: from "copper"
Vitriolic: resembling
The sign at
The station sign at
Main article:
There is some debate as to whether a place name is a legitimate word.
The longest officially recognized place name in an English-speaking country is
(85 letters), which is a hill in . The name is in the .
In , the longest place name is , a
in , at 61 letters or 68 non-space characters.
The 58-letter name
is the name of a town on , an island of . In terms of the traditional Welsh alphabet, the name is only 51 letters long, as certain digraphs in
are considered as single letters, for instance ll, ng and ch. It is generally agreed, however, that this invented name, adopted in the mid-19th century, was contrived solely to be the longest name of any town in Britain. The official name of the place is Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, commonly abbreviated to Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG.
The longest non-contrived place name in the United Kingdom which is a single non-hyphenated word is
(19 letters) and the longest which is hyphenated is
(29 characters).
The longest place name in the United States (45 letters) is , a lake in , . It means "Fishing Place at the Boundaries – Neutral Meeting Grounds" and is sometimes facetiously translated as "you fish your side of the water, I fish my side of the water, nobody fishes the middle". The lake is also known as Webster Lake. The longest hyphenated names in the U.S. are , a town in , and , a notable place in
The longest official geographical name in Australia is . It has 26 letters and is a
word meaning "where the Devil urinates".
In , the longest English placename at 22 letters is
(from the , Muiceanach Idir Dhá Sháile, meaning "pig-marsh between two saltwater inlets") in . If this is disallowed for being derived from Irish, or not a town, the longest at 19 letters is
formerly contained a category for longest
From about 1975 to 1985, the recordholder was Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfe-schlegelstein-hausenberger-dorffvoraltern-waren-gewissenhaft-schaferswessen-schafewaren-wohlgepflege-und-sorgfaltigkeit-beschutzen-von-angreifen-durch-ihrraubgierigfeinde-welche-voraltern-zwolftausend-jahres-vorandieerscheinen-wander-ersteer-dem-enschderraumschiff-gebrauchlicht-als-sein-ursprung-von-kraftgestart-sein-lange-fahrt-hinzwischen-sternartigraum-auf-der-suchenach-diestern-welche-gehabt-bewohnbar-planeten-kreise-drehen-sich-und-wohin-der-neurasse-von-verstandigmen-schlichkeit-konnte-fortplanzen-und-sicher-freuen-anlebens-langlich-freude-und-ruhe-mit-nicht-ein-furcht-vor-angreifen-von-anderer-intelligent-geschopfs-von-hinzwischen-sternartigraum, Senior (746 letters), also known as .
After 1985 Guinness briefly awarded the record to a newborn girl with a longer name. The category was removed shortly afterward.
Long birth names are often coined in protest of naming laws or for other personal reasons.
was challenged by parents Lasse Diding and Elisabeth Hallin, who proposed the given name "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" for their child (pronounced , 43 characters), which was rejected by a
in , southern Sweden.
Main article:
Schmaltzed and strengthed (10 letters) appear to be the longest
words recorded in , while scraunched and scroonched appear to be the longest
words recorded in ; but squirrelled (11 letters) is the longest if pronounced as one syllable only (as permitted in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and
at squirrel, and in Longman Pronunciation Dictionary). Schtroumpfed (12 letters) was coined by , while broughammed (11 letters) was coined by
after broughamed (10 letters) was coined by .
Strengths is the longest word in the English language containing only one vowel.
musical term, is the longest English word consisting only of vowels, and the word with the most consecutive vowels. However, the "word" itself is simply a
consisting of the vowels to be sung in the phrase "seculorum Amen" at the end of the . (Although u was often used interchangeably with v, and the variant "Evovae" is occasionally used, the v in these cases would still be a vowel.)
are , misconjugatedly and uncopyrightables.
The longest word whose letters are in alphabetical order is the eight-letter , a grass genus. However, this is arguably both Latin and a . There are several six-letter English words with their letters in alphabetical order, including abhors, almost, begins, biopsy, chimps and chintz.
The longest words recorded in OED with each vowel only once, and in order, are abstemiously, affectiously, and tragediously (OED). Fracedinously and gravedinously (constructed from adjectives in OED) h Gadspreciously, constructed from Gadsprecious (in OED), has fourteen letters. Facetiously is among the few other words directly attested in OED with single occurrences of all five vowels and the
The longest single
word in English is rotavator, another name for a
for breaking and aerating soil.
The longest words typable with only the left hand using conventional hand placement on a
keyboard are , aftercataracts, and the more common but sometimes hyphenated sweaterdresses. Using the right hand alone, the longest word that can be typed is , or, excluding , monimolimnion and phyllophyllin.
The longest English word typable using only the top row of letters has 11 letters: rupturewort. Similar words with 10 letters include: pepperwort, perpetuity, proprietor, requietory, repertoire, tripertite, pourriture and typewriter. The word
(used in ) is longer at 12 letters, although it is usually spelled with a hyphen.
The longest using only the middle row is shakalshas (10 letters). Nine-letter words include flagfalls, galahads and alfalfas.
Since the bottom row contains no vowels, no standard words can be formed. Exceptions might include Zzz, seen in some dictionaries to denote sleep, or m', the
form of my.
The longest words typable by alternating left and right hands are antiskepticism and leucocytozoans respectively.
keyboard, the longest "left-handed" words are epopoeia, , , and quiaquia. Other such long words are , , opaque, and upkeep. Kikuyu is typed entirely with the index finger, and so the longest one-fingered word on the Dvorak keyboard. There are no vowels on the right-hand side, and so the longest "right-handed" word is .
Smiles, according to an old riddle, may be considered the longest word in English, as there is a
between the first and last letter. A retort asserts that beleaguered is longer still, since it contains a . The riddle and both jocular answers date from the 19th century.
retrospective, Golden Radio, comedian
jokes that "the longest word in the English language is the one that follows, 'Now, here's a word from our sponsor.'"
, longest published word in German
Colista Moore (2011). Student's Dictionary. p. 524.  .
see separate article
Donald McF Norris Dewar McW David A. Boeh (1989). . Sterling. p. 129.  .
Coined around 1935 to press reports on puzzle league members legitimized it somewhat. First appeared in the MWNID supplement, 1939. Today OED and several others list it, but citations are almost always as "longest word". More detail at .
. AskOxford.
from the original on .
See fact #99
(Video). Ask the Editor.
The , in its 1992 and previous editions, declared the longest real word in the English language to be floccinaucinihilipilification. More recent editions of the book have acknowledged pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator
Discussion between Sen. Moynihan and Sen. Byrd "Mr. President, may I say to the distinguished Senator from New York, I used that word on the Senate floor myself 2 or 3 years ago. I cannot remember just when or what the occasion was, but I used it on that occasion to indicate that whatever it was I was discussing it was something like a mere trifle or nothing really being of moment." Congressional Record June 17, 1991, p. S7887, and at the White House by 's press secretary , albeit sarcastically. 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."
Eckler, R. Making the Alphabet Dance, p 252, 1996.
. . Archived from
on 27 April 2009.
Paux et al. (2008) Science, Vol. 322 (4. A Physical Map of the 1-Gigabase Bread Wheat Chromosome 3B
Chemical Abstracts Formula Index, Jan.-June 1964, Page 967F; Chemical Abstracts 7th Coll. Formulas, C23H32-Z, 56-65, , Page 6717F
cited in some editions of the
as the longest word in English, see
on the longest English word
12 April 2012 at
Belluck, Pam (). . The New York Times.
. Sciencelinks.jp. .
. J. Wilson and son. 1882. p. 122.
Even "longer" words exist (e.g., gigaparsecs, with a
before the final s), according to the logic implicit in the jokes.
has a category on
This audio file was created from a revision of the "Longest word in English" article dated , and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ()
"Ask the Experts"
: Hidden categories:1-5: A B D D C
请在这里输入关键词：
科目：高中英语
来源：三点一测丛书　高中英语　必修1(河北教育版课标本) 冀教版
　　A Nobel Prize is considered by most people one of the highest international honours a person can receive．As you know, the prizes were started by a Swede called Alfred Nobel．Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and lived from 1833 to 1896．
　　Alfred Nobel was a chemist and inventor．He made two important inventions, and so he became very rich．Although he was rich, Nobel was not a happy man．He never married or had children．Also, he was a sick man in a large part of his life．Nobel died at the age of sixty-three．When he died, he left a fund of ＄9, 000, 000．The money was to be used in giving prizes to those who made outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and the promotion of world peace．
　　The first Nobel Prizes were given on December 10 th, 1901, five years after Nobel's death．Many famous people from all over the world have been given Nobel Prizes for their achievements．Albert Einstein was one of them．
　　Each Prize has three parts．The first part is a gold medal．Second, a winner of a Nobel Prize is given a diploma saying that he has been given the Prize．The third part of the Prize is a large amount of money－about ＄40, 000．
　　Often a Prize is given to just one person, but not always．Sometimes a Prize is shared．It may be given to two or three people who have worked together．Sometimes a Prize is not given at all if there is no outstanding achievement．In 1972, for example, no Nobel Peace Prize was given．It is the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm that decides whether to give the Prize or not．
Most people think that the Nobel Prize is ________ a person can receive．
the highest honour in the world
one of the highest international honours
a higher honour than others
as high as any other honour
A Nobel Prize is made up of ________．
a gold medal and a large amount of money
a gold medal and a diploma
a gold medal and a diploma and a large amount of money
a diploma and a large amount of money
A Nobel Prize is given to ________ each year．
just one person
one person
not always one person
three persons
When he died, Nobel left an amount of money ________．
to his wife and his children
to the university he used to study in
to his parents and his students
to be spent on setting five prizes
科目：高中英语
来源：江苏省徐州市2010届高三下学期第三次调研考试（英语）
题型：阅读理解
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。The National Outline for Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development (2010 - 20) was released over the weekend. Here are some of the highlights:Four – percent effortThe government says spending on education will be 4 percent of GDP by 2012. globally, average spending on education is about 4.5% of GDP. China spend 3,33% in 2008. according to Hu Angang, of Tsinghua University’s Center for China Studies, even if China reaches that goal, it will only rank about 100 th out of 188 countries.Administrative rankAdministrative rankings for school leaders are to be phased out to tackle the bureaucracy (官僚机构) problem that limits educational development, according to Cheng Fangping, of the national Institute for Educational Research. Areas like teaching programs, scientific research, and technological development will be more independent.Vocational EducationThe system will be free of charge. According to Wu Yan, of Beijing Institute of Educational Sciences, this will be key to developing China’s production capacity and will improve poor people’s lives dramatically.Entering college Universities could eventually have the freedom to choose some of their own high school applicants. Normally, students are accepted based on the uniform national exam scores. Also, students who agree to go to a remote area could be admitted to university under special circumstances. The most likely change could come on the college entrance English test, which might be modeled on the IELTS or TOEFL. Students will be able to take it several times and pick their best score.56．Which of the following is true in the future according to the passage? A．Applicants could take the IELTS or TOEFL instead of the college entrance English test. B．Colleges will be given the right to choose all of their own applicants. C．Vocational education will be party free to make people’s lives better. D．Applicants could sit for the college entrance English test more than once.57．Which of the following words is closest in meaning to “uniform” in the last paragraph? A．formal&&&&& B．official&&&& C．same D．united58．We can learn from the passage even though our country spends 4% of GDP on education in 2012, ________. A．there will still be 188 countries ahead of China in this aspect B．China will certainly overtake the global average spending on education C．there might be nearly 100 countries ahead of China in this aspect D．China will be the 100 th country to spend over the global average on education59．From the third paragraph, we can infer that________. A．school leaders will have more freedom to manage the school B．schools will have more limits from the government C．School administrative rankings are to be strengthened to solve the bureaucracy problem D．schools and research centers will be fully independent from the government
科目：高中英语
来源：浙江省舟山市2010届高三高考模拟试题（英语）
题型：阅读理解
第二部分：阅读理解（第一节20小题，第二节5小题；每小题2分，满分50分）
第一节：阅读下列短文, 从每题所给的四个选项 (A、B、C和D)
中, 选出最佳选项。
Being interested in a
theme park since the time that I was a child, I have learned a thing or two
over the years about packing for a day of fun. A trip to a theme park is always
a adventure, but if you’re not prepared, your day of fun could easily turn into
a tiny little nightmare(噩梦). It is important to pack long sleeved(带袖的) shirts or jackets for all members of your family. I is also a good
idea to pack an extra pair of socks for each member of the family, especially
the children, as those wonderful water rides can be fun, but wet socks that
won’t dry aren’t so much fun.
You don’t want to pack
too much food, as you will probably want to experience at least some of the
food offered at the theme park of your choice(that’s half of the fun), but it’s
always a good idea to bring some energy increasing snacks, such as fruit,trail
mix,etc. This can mean the difference between spending a lot of money on snacks
or a little money on one or two good meals.
Theme parks,while fun
and exciting, can wear a person out,especially a child, so it’s important to
keep hydrated(含水的). I would suggest packing one bottle of water
per person, and possibly a couple of cans of soda or bottles of juice as well.
It’s a good idea to
have at least two cell phones or even a set of “walkie-talkies” in the event
that your family gets,separated in the park. It’s a good idea to give one of
these things to the children and one to the parents and make sure that each of
them knows how to use it. This could be the difference between trouble and a
happy ending,
1.You should get well
prepared before going to a theme park__________.
& A. because the
trip always costs much money
B.because there are always too many people in a theme park.
C. so as not to suffer from bad dreams when going back
D.so as to cut down your trip expenses and have more fun
2.From the passage, we
can know_______________.
& A.the author was
fond of visiting theme parks when he was a child
B.wearing wet socks in a theme park will bring children
much fun
C.it is terrible to have a taste of the food offered in a theme
park.
D. we’d better bring enough food, clothing and water when
going to a theme park
3.What does th
underlined part”walkie-talkies” in the last paragraph probably refer to?
& A. A kind of
transportation tool&&&&&&&&&&
B.A kind of musical instrument
C.A kind of
CDplayer&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
D.A kind of phone
4.How many types of
things does the author advise us to pack for day trips to a theme park?
& A
Three&&&&&&&&
B.Five&&&&& C.Six&&&&& D.
Eight
科目：高中英语
来源：安徽省模拟题
题型：阅读理解
&&&&& Advertising is a form of communication that uses all kinds of media, and is visible everywhere these days. Typical customers of advertising companies are other companies, or businessmen, who want to persuade potential customers to buy more of what they make or sell. But there are other kinds of customers. Some organizations spend large sums of money on advertising a political party or other group that sells what is not, strictly speaking, a product or service. Such non - profit organizations are not typical advertising customers, and they prefer ways of spreading knowledge, changing attitudes, and improving society.&&&& Many advertisements are designed to increase sales of products and services by either improving brand image or, in the case of non - profit organizations, expressing ideas. In order to achieve th~s, advertisements will often pass on truthful information while delivering their messages. Every major medium is a means of delivering these messages, including television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet and billboards (大幅广告牌). Advertising will usually be created and. placed by an advertising agency on behalf of company or other organization.&&&& Spending on advertising has increased greatly in recent years. In 2006, spending was estimated at $155 billion in the United States and $385 the latter is expected to reach more than $500 billion by 2010.&&&& While advertising can be seen as a necessity for economic growth and social development, it is not without social costs. Advertisement emails and other forms of junk mail have become so popular that ~they have become a major burden to users of Internet email services, as well as a financial burden on Internet email service providers.
科目：高中英语
来源：江西省模拟题
题型：阅读理解
阅读理解。&&&&& 阅读下面短文并回答问题(请注意问题后的词数要求)。&&&&& The worst US economic depression in the recent 70 years is forcing senior citizens out of retirement,leaving them fighting for jobs in a weak labor market or risking homelessness.&&&&& The study by Experience Works, released on Tuesday, showed 46 percent of the 2,000 low income people over 55 years who participated needed to find work to keep their homes. Nearly half of them had been searching for work for more than a year.&&&&& "These people are at the age where they understandably thought their job-searching years were behind them,” said Cynthia Metzler, president and CEO of Experience Works.&&&& "Bur here they are, many in their 60s, 70s and beyond, desperate to find work so they can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.”&&&&& According to the study, many of the participants had no intention of working past their 60 th birthday, but _______ after being laid off or following the death of the partner. Over a third of the participants hadretired.&&&&& Ninety percent of the respondents 76 years and older planned to continue working for the next fiveyears.&&&&& Huge medical bills due to a persona illness or that of a partner were also reasons for coming out of retirement, the survey found. The longest and deepest economic decline since the 1930s is making findinga job for the low-income elderly workers a difficult challenge.&&&&& The Experience Works study found that 46 percent of the elderly jobseekers were sometimes forcedto choose between paying rent and buying food or medication. Almost three-quarters believed their age made it harder to compete for jobs with younger workers.&&&& "This study underscores calls for the need to create policies that remove barriers to employment for elder workers and provide additional programs and services specifically aimed at helping elder peoplere-enter the work force or remain working,” said Metzler.1. What’s the main idea of the passage? (no more than 12 words)_______________________________________________________________________________2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words. (no more than 5 words)_______________________________________________________________________________3. Complete the following statement with proper words. (no more than 3 words)&& The people over 55 years are hard to avoid the feeling that they have passed the age of ________________________________________________________________________________4. What might be the solution to the problem according to the study? (no more than 15 words)________________________________________________________________________________5. What does the word “them” (line2, paragraph 2) probably refer to? (no more than 7 words)________________________________________________________________________________