The English language has over 171,476 words, and new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary yearly. Interestingly, regular people use only 20000 or up to 30000. It’s a great idea to go to an IELTS review center in Cebu to test and improve your English, but at the same time you also want to learn as much as possible when it comes to unique, different words. Knowing the longest word in English is a great idea, and we have plenty of contenders.
One of the curiosities of English natives and learners relates to long words. So, what is the longest word in the English dictionary? That would be Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Yes, this is an accurate word, and it represents Pneumoconiosis caused by inhaling quartz dust or very fine silicate. So it’s a medical term with no fewer than 45 letters.
But that’s just the longest word in the English dictionary! Outside of the English dictionary, the longest word is the chemical name for titin. The short variant for this word is Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine, which is so long because it has 26926 amino acids in the name. That totals 189819 letters; if you try to pronounce the name, it will take you around 3 hours to complete it.
This particular word is quite funny because it’s 36 letters long and represents a fear of long words. It’s interesting to see that one of the longest words in English relates to the fear of long words.
Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism is a medical condition of the thyroid. Like many other long words, it’s related to a medical condition, and this one is 30 letters long. That’s why it makes sense to know the longest word in English, because many of them relate to various conditions. Of course, that’s not always the case, as there are exceptions.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is 34 letters long, and it’s a way to express excitement. This word is only in the Mary Poppins film. According to the movie, this is a word you want to use to show excitement, but you don’t have other things to say.
Eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious is 30 letters long, and means that something is very fine/good. How you can use it will differ - some people use it to express their appreciation towards food or drinks. Others might also use it to show how they feel regarding a service.
Why you use a 29-letter word to express that something is worthless is hard to understand. Regardless, Floccinaucinihilipilification is one word that shows items or services are not worth your time nor money, and you should consider staying away from them.
While it’s not the longest word in English, Antidisestablishmentarianism has a particular use case scenario. This word shows you are opposed to the disestablishment of the English Church.
Honorificabilitudinitatibus is 27 letters long and means that you can achieve honors. Similar to honorable, this word shows you appreciate someone’s hard work and outstanding achievements that they managed to acquire over the years.
Pneumoencephalographically is an archaic medical procedure and more of a technical word when compared to others in this list. This term entails a procedure through which you remove spinal fluid and then add air to see the brain structure. It was an ancient technique, yet it did help some patients. Eventually, it got replaced with modern, less painful systems.
Thyroparathyroidectomized is another word related to the thyroid. This particular term is 25 letters long and describes the excision of parathyroid and thyroid glands. It’s a specific procedure, so it’s understandable why this is close to the longest word in English. Another very long medical word is Dichlorodifluoromethane, which is 23 letters long and showcases chlorofluoromethane CF2Cl2.
Once you realize many of the longest words in English are related to medicine, you will probably want to further deepen your medical knowledge. Xenotransplantation is one of them, it has 19 letters, and this one relates to a precise process. It means you are transplanting organs between different species. The term is widely used primarily by veterinaries when they need to do an inter-species organ transplant.
As the word might suggest, this is used for things that are very hard to comprehend. Interestingly, a 21-letter term is suitable for items that are hard to understand since this is a long word. It’s one of the longest words in English. It pertains to not one but multiple things that are hard to understand.
Trichotillomania is a 16-letter word describing a particular issue that some people have. It shows an inexplicable desire to try and pull your hair.
The term pertains to a lake you can find in Webster, Massachusetts. This particular term, which is 45 letters long, originates from the Algonquian language. According to that language, its meaning is a fishing place found in neutral meeting grounds. So even if certain tribes or people conflicted, this was a common place where they could go fishing without attacking the other party. Nowadays, the lake is named either the Chaubunagungamaug lake or Webster Lake.
The spectrophotofluorometer is a device that helps identify how much is emitted by anything. So you can say that an item was analyzed spectrophotofluorometrically, and that’s where you can use this 28-letter word adequately.
During the 17th century, if you asked what the longest word in English was, it was Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic since it had 52 letters. It’s not in the English dictionary anymore. When it was, it represented spa waters in the Bath region, England.
Sesquipedalianism is not the longest word in English but has 17 letters. It’s a practice where you use long words when writing or during a speech. Related to this, we have another long term, this one is sesquipedalian, and it means you are a person that enjoys using long words.
Uncopyrightable is 15 letters long, a term showing something can’t be copyrighted. It’s used from time to time when someone tries to copyright publicly usable things; thus, no one can claim it’s their own creation.
Tergiversation is another long word, 14 letters long, and the idea here is that someone avoids making a clear statement. It’s uncommon, but you might find it being used in various situations when a person beats around the bush and doesn’t state their case as they should.
It’s a good idea to know what IELTS is when you want to learn these long words, as they can be advantageous for you when you prepare for the exam. As you can see, learning what the longest words in the English language are isn’t that difficult, but you do have to find them. Most long words of over 20 letters are used in quite specific contexts – you won’t encounter them in everyday language, but that are handy to impress someone with! It can take a while to learn them and especially use them, but that’s the beauty of the English language, you can always find something unique and fascinating about it.