Longest words

The longest word in any given language depends on the word formation rules of each specific language, and on the types of words allowed for consideration. Agglutinative languages allow for the creation of long words via compounding. Even non-agglutinative languages may allow word formation of theoretically limitless length in certain contexts. Words consisting of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of characters have been coined with the goal of being ranked among the world's longest words; technical scientific terms can run to hundreds of thousands of characters in length. Place names may not be accepted on lists of longest words despite their length. Longest word candidates may be judged by their acceptance in major dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary or in record-keeping publications like the Guinness World Records, and by the frequency of their use in ordinary language.

Albanian
The longest word in Albanian is probably Kundërkushtetuetshmeria, which is 23 letters long, a legal term that means "Against the constitution." and is commonly used, but other words can be created..

Arabic
The longest word in Arabic mentioned in The Holy Qur'an is -فأسقيناكموه- or -فَأَسْقَيْنَاكُمُوهُ-, which is 11 letters, and means "and we give it to you to drink."

Bulgarian
The longest word in Bulgarian is Непротивоконституционствувателствуванията (Neprotivokonstitutsionstvuvatelstvuvaniyata), which is 41 letters, and means "Actions of not acting against the Constitution."

Chinese
In terms of pronunciation, Chinese words (Mandarin) are strictly mono-syllabic. As such most words are limited to a length of three phonemes at most, but in the Peking area, a fourth phoneme, usually "r," can be added. In romanised spelling, 5 Roman Alphabets represents the maximum extrapolation of the pronunciation any single Chinese character in standard pronunciation, being the likes of "宣," which is spelled "syuan." Again, in the Peking area, the final "r" can be added.

It should be noted that individual characters are not direct equivalents of "words" in the English sense, as many Chinese "words" require more than one character to express, one being "葡萄," or "grapes" in English.

Czech
Traditionally, the word nejneobhospodařovávatelnějšímu is considered as the longest Czech word. But there are some longer artificial words. Most of them are compound adjectives in dative, instrumental or other grammatical case and derived from the iterative or frequentative verbal form or the ability adjective form (like -able).
 * nejneobhospodařovávatelnějšímu = cca "to the least farmable one", 30 letters
 * nejzdevětadevadesáteroroznásobitelnějšími = "by the most possible to be 99-tuplable out", 41 letters
 * nejnerestrukturalizovávatelnějšímu = cca "to the least restructurable one", 34 letters
 * nejneznesrozumitelňovávatelnějšímu = cca "to the least able to be making less understandable", 34 letters
 * nejnevykrystalizovávatelnějšímu = "to the least out-crystallizable one", 31 letters

(See also the Czech article.)

Danish
Speciallægepraksisplanlægningsstabiliseringsperiode, which is 51 letters, is the longest Danish word that has been used in an official context. It means "Period of plan stabilising for a specialist doctor's practice," and was used during negotiations with the local government. Konstantinopolitanerinde, meaning female inhabitant of Constantinople, is often mentioned as the longest non-compound word.

For the fairytale The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep the author Hans Christian Andersen named one of the characters Gedebukkebensoverogundergeneralkrigskommandersergenten as a parody on the long Danish military titles.

Dutch
Dutch is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length. The 49-letter word Kindercarnavalsoptochtvoorbereidingswerkzaamheden, meaning "preparation activities for a children's carnival procession," was cited by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Dutch word.

The longest word in the authoritative Van Dale Dutch dictionary is wapenstilstandsonderhandelingen; 31 letters long, the term means "cease-fire negotiations".

The free OpenTaal dictionary, that was certified by the Dutch Language Union (i.e. the formal Dutch language institute) and that is included in many open source applications, contains the following longest words that are 40 letters long:
 * vervoerdersaansprakelijkheidsverzekering, that means "carriers' liability insurance";
 * bestuurdersaansprakelijkheidsverzekering, that means "directors' liability insurance";
 * overeenstemmingsbeoordelingsprocedures, that means "conformity assessment procedures".

English
The 45 letter word Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest English word that appears in a major dictionary. Originally coined to become a candidate for the longest word in English, the term eventually developed some independent use in medicine. It is referred to as "P45" by researchers.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, at 34 letters, is a long English word that became famous after inclusion in a song sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the Mary Poppins 1964 film.

Antidisestablishmentarianism, at 28 letters, is the longest non-coined, non-technical English word. It refers to a 19th century political movement that opposed the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state church of England.

Floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters (and meaning the act of estimating something as being worth so little as to be practically valueless, or the habit of doing so) is the longest non-technical, coined word in the English language.

Esperanto
The longest official Esperanto roots are 12-letter (here with added the substantive "-o" ending):
 * administracio (administration),
 * aŭtobiografio (autobiographpronoun),
 * diskriminacii (to discriminate),
 * konservatorio (conservatory),
 * paleontologio (paleontology),
 * paralelogramo (parallelogram),
 * spiritualismo (spiritualism),
 * spiritualisto (spiritualist) and
 * trigonometrio (trigonometry).

Since Esperanto allows word compounding, there are no limits on how long a word can theoretically become.

Estonian
Estonian has many long words. One of the more notable ones at 24 characters is kuulilennuteetunneliluuk meaning "the hatch a bullet flies out of when exiting a tunnel". It is notable as it is also a palindrome, meaning it can be read from both sides.

One other long word is uusaastaöövastuvõtuhommikuidüll at 31 characters denoting a ideallistic morning after the new year. It can be used in a sentence such as Maalilist jõuluööeelootusaega ja illuminaarses aoõhetuses uusaastaöövastuvõtuhommikuidülli to say "merry christmas and a happy new year".

Filipino
The longest known Filipino word is 32 letter, 13 syllable Nagsisipagsisinungasinungalingan which means "trying to tell fake lies to another."

French
The longest usual word in French is anticonstitutionnellement (25 letters), meaning "anticonstitutionally" (in a way which is not conforming to the constitution).

Like in English, the longest technical word in French is the scientific name for titin (189,819 letters).

German
In German, whole numbers (smaller than 1 million) are expressed as single words such as neunhundertneunundneunzig (999 - literally: nine hundred, nine and ninety) and therefore, by continually adding digits that cannot result in a rounded figure, a word of unbounded length is theoretically possible. Aside from this, long compound words are both relatively common and comprehensible. A 79 letter word, Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, was named the longest published word in the German language by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, but longer words are possible. The word refers to a division of an Austrian shipping company named the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft which transported passengers and cargo on the Danube. The longest word that is not created artificially as a longest-word record seems to be Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzeshüter.

The longest known word that is not a compound word seems to be the 23 letter word "Unkameradschaftlichkeit". It uses only derivations.

Greek
In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 183-letter word λοπαδο&shy;τεμαχο&shy;σελαχο&shy;γαλεο&shy;κρανιο&shy;λειψανο&shy;δριμ&shy;υπο&shy;τριμματο&shy;σιλφιο&shy;καραβο&shy;μελιτο&shy;κατακεχυ&shy;μενο&shy;κιχλ&shy;επι&shy;κοσσυφο&shy;φαττο&shy;περιστερ&shy;αλεκτρυον&shy;οπτο&shy;κεφαλλιο&shy;κιγκλο&shy;πελειο&shy;λαγῳο&shy;σιραιο&shy;βαφη&shy;τραγανο&shy;πτερύγων. A fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish, poultry and other meat, hare usually refers to rabbit, it is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written and it is the longest word ever to appear in literature.

Hebrew
The longest Hebrew word is 20 letters long: ולכשלאנציקלופדיותינו - ulixšeleʾenciklopedjotéjnu (transliteration: wlkšlʾnṣjḳlwpdjwtjnw), which means: "and when to our encyclopedias […]"

The 11 letters word "וְהָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים" is the longest word appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. Its meaning is "and the satraps".

Hungarian
Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért, with 44 letters is officially the longest word in the Hungarian language which is actually in use, means something like "for your [plural] continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated". It is already morphed, since Hungarian is an agglutinative language. For this reason, it is possible to create words like összetettszóhosszúságvilágrekorddöntéskényszerneurózistünetegyüttes-megnyilvánulásfejleszthetőségvizsgálatszervezésellenőrzésiügyosztály-létszámleépítésellenesakciócsoporttagságiigazolványmegújításikérelem-elutasítóhatározatgyűjteményértékesítőnagyvállalatátalakításutó-finanszírozáspályázatelbírálóalapítványkuratóriumelnökhelyettesellenes-merényletkivizsgálóbizottságiüléselnapolásindítványbenyújtásiforma-nyomtatványkitöltögetésellenőrizhetőség-próba which is 447 characters long and refers to a committee and its cognizance. Of course in reality such a committee could not exist, in addition, it contradicts the Hungarian ortography.

The longest dictionary form word is the non-morphed form of the longest word in use, megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért, with 25 characters, and means "because of the fact that you cannot be desecrated".

Another word that does not contradict with the Hungarian ortography: "legeslegtöredezettségmentesíthetetlenebbeskedéseitekért" can be translated to something like "because of your highest unfragmentationability factor".

Italian
The longest word in Italian is traditionally precipitevolissimevolmente, which is a 26-letter-long adverb. It is formed by subsequent addition of postfixes to the original root:
 * 1) precipitevole: "hasty";
 * 2) precipitevolissimo: "very hasty";
 * 3) precipitevolissimevole: "[of someone/something] that acts very hastily", (not grammatically correct);
 * 4) precipitevolissimevolmente: "in a way like someone/something the acts very hastily" (not grammatically correct, but nowadays part of the language).

The word is never used in every-day language, but in jokes. Nevertheless, it is an official part of Italian language; it was coined in 1677 by poet Francesco Moneti: "finché alla terra alfin torna repente precipitevolissimevolmente"

- Francesco Moneti, Cortona Convertita, canto III, LXV

It is to be noted that the word technically violates Italian grammar rules, the correct form being precipitevolissimamente, which is 3 letters and one syllable shorter. The poet coined the new word to have 11 syllables in the second verse.

Other words can be created with a similar (and grammatically correct) mechanism starting from a longer root, winding up with a longer word. Some examples are:
 * sovramagnificentissimamente (cited by Dante Alighieri in De vulgari eloquentia), 27 letters, "in a way that is more than magnificent by far" (archaic);
 * incontrovertibilissimamente, 27 letters, "in a way that is very difficult to falsify";
 * particolareggiatissimamente, 27 letters, "in an extremely detailed way";
 * anticostituzionalissimamente, 28 letters, "in a way that strongly violates the constitution".

The longest accepted neologism is psiconeuroendocrinoimmunologia (30 letters).

Latvian
The longest technical terms are common with other European languages, but the longest non-technical word is Pretpulksteņrādītājvirziens, 27 letters long, which means ''Counter-clockwise direction''.

Lithuanian
The two longest Lithuanian words are 36 letters long: 1) the adjective "septyniasdešimtseptyniastraipsniuose" - the plural locative case of the adjective "septyniasdešimtseptyniastraipsnis" meaning "(object) with seventy-seven articles"; 2) the participle "nebeprisikiškiakopūsteliaudavusiuose", "those that were repeatedly unable to pick enough of small wood-sorrels in the past" - the plural locative case of past iterative active participle of verb "kiškiakopūsteliauti" meaning "to pick wood-sorrels" (edible forest plant with sour taste, word by word translation "rabbit cabbage"). The word is commonly attributed to famous Lithuanian language teacher Jonas Kvederaitis, who actually used the plural first person of past iterative tense "nebeprisikiškiakopūstaudavome".

There are two Lithuanian words sharing 35 letters: 1) the participle "nebeprisikiškiakopūsteliaudavusiems", "for those who were repeatedly unable to pick enough of small wood-sorrels in the past" - the plural dative case of past iterative active participle of the verb "kiškiakopūsteliauti"; 2) the adjective "septyniasdešimtseptyniasluoksniuose" - the plural locative case of the adjective "septyniasdešimtseptyniasluoksnis" meaning "(object) with seventy-seven layers".

Māori
The 85-letter place name Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikomaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu was the longest place name in the Māori language.

Norwegian
The longest word in Norwegian, that is a real word in ordinary use, is menneskerettighetsorganisasjonene (33 letters). The meaning is 'the organizations of human rights'.

But in theory it is possible in Norwegian to make words as long as one wants, for instance menneskerettighetsorganisasjonssekretæren ('the secretary of an organization of human rights', menneskerettighetsorganisasjonssekretærkurset ('a course for secretaries working for organizations of human rights'), menneskerettighetsorganisasjonssekretærkursmateriellet ('material for a course for secretaries working for organizations of human rights'), and so on.

Polish
Longest Polish words are adjectives created from numerals and nouns.

dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcionarodowościowego, 54 letters, is an inclined genitive form of word, meaning roughly "of nine-hundred-ninety-nine nationalities".

Please note that similar words are rather artificial compounds, constructed within allowed grammar rules, but are seldom used in spoken language—although they're not nonsense words.

One of longest common words is 31-letter dziewięćdziesięciokilkoletniemu - a form of "ninety-and-some years old one". Another one (32 letters) is Konstantynopolitańczykowianeczka - an old-fashioned word for an unmarried daughter of a man from of Constantinopole.

Portuguese
The 46 letter word pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconióticos (plural of pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconiótico) is the longest word. It is an adjective referring to the carrier of the disease Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

The 29 letter word anticonstitucionalissimamente (= in a very unconstitutionally way) is recognized as being the longest non-technical word.

Romanian
The 44 letter word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioza is the longest word. It is an substantive referring to a disease.

The 19 letter word "ininteligibilitatii " is the longest word which contains letter "i" repeated eight times.

Russian
The 40 letter word никотинамидадениндинуклеотидфосфатгидрин (nikotinamidadenindinukleotidfosfatgidrin), also НАДФ (NADF) - nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate is the longest word. The longest originally-Russian word is частнопредпринимательскими which contains 26 letters and means "which can be private-owned" (note also numeral compounds, like Тысячевосьмисотвосьмидесятидевятимикрометровый (tysiachevosmisotvosmidesiatideviatimikrometrovyi) which is an adjective containing 46 letters and meaning "1889-micrometer").

Serbian
The 38 letter word Семпаравиливичинаверсаламилитипиковски (Serbian Cyrillic script - Cirilica/ћирилица), (Semparavilivičinaversalamilitipikovski) (Serbian Latin script - Latinica/латиница) is a last name from a family in old Yugoslavia. This is the longest known word in Serbian language.

Slovak
The longest Slovak word is Znajneprekryštalizovávateľnejšievajúcimi (40 letters), which means 'with most anti crystallizing' in plural.

Spanish
The 24 letter word electroencefalografistas, referring to people who practice electroencephalography, has been cited as the longest Spanish word in actual use.

Swedish
The longest word in the Swedish language is according to Guinness World Records Nordöstersjökustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranläggningsmaterielunderhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussionsinläggsförberedelsearbeten (130 letters). It means "Northern Baltic Sea Coast Artillery Reconnaissance Flight Simulator Facility Equipment Maintenance Follow-Up System Discussion Post Preparation Work(s)." Since two words are written together to form new words, multiple words can be put together to make even longer words.

Realisationsvinstbeskattning (28 letters) is the longest word in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista. It means "Capital Gains tax".

Turkish
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine, at 70 letters, has been cited as the longest Turkish word, though it should be noted that it is a compound word and that Turkish, as an agglutinative language, carries the potential for words of theoretically infinite length.

1.Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine, 70 letters It means As though you are from those we may not be able to easily make a maker of unsuccessful ones

2."Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdan mısınız?" which means "Are you one of those people whom we couldn't make resemble from Czechoslovakia?"

3. "Çekoslovakyalılaştırabildiklerimizden miydiniz?".

4. Afyonkarahisarlılaştırabildiklerimizdenmişsinizcesine - It means "As if you are one of the people that we made resemble from Afyonkarahisar".

5. muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine

5.1. Kötü amaçların güdüldüğü bir öğretmen okulundayız. Yetiştirilen öğretmenlere öğrencileri nasıl muvaffakiyetsizleştirecekleri öğretiliyor. Yani öğretmenler birer muvaffakiyetsizleştirici olarak yetiştiriliyorlar. Fakat öğretmenlerden biri muvaffakiyetsizleştirici olmayı, yani muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştirilmeyi reddediyor, bu konuda ileri geri konuşuyor. Bütün öğretmenleri kolayca muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriverebileceğini düşünen okul müdürü bu duruma sinirleniyor, ve söz konusu öğretmeni makamına çağırıp ona diyor ki: "Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine laflar ediyormuşsunuz ha?"

We are in a teachers' training school which has evil purposes. How to make unsuccessful ones is being taught to the teachers who are being educated in that school. So teachers are educated as makers of unsuccessful ones. However one of those teachers refuses to be maker of unsuccessful ones which means made a maker unsuccessful ones. He talks about it and criticizes. The headmaster who thinks he can make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones gets angry. He invites the teacher to his room and says "You are talking like you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones, right?"

Vietnamese
Nghiêng, with 7 letters meaning "inclined", is the longest word in the single syllable Vietnamese.

Welsh
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, a railway station on the island of Anglesey in Wales, is the longest place name in the Welsh language. 51 letters long in the Welsh alphabet, the name can be translated as "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave". However, it was artificially contrived in the 1860s as a publicity stunt, to give the station the longest name of any railway station in the United Kingdom.