Longest Word in English Language: Audio, Place Names & More

Have you ever thought about what the longest word in English might be? Or have you come across long English words like floccinaucinihilipilification, and wondered what it means? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are more than 171,476 words currently in use in English, and some are confusing words and difficult to pronounce because of their unusual length. You might even need an interpreter or translator for them. Nevertheless, we have got you covered. In this article, you will discover the longest English words used in the dictionary, in different places and specializations, as well as learn how to pronounce them. Learning these words will make you sound more eloquent and knowledgeable in your English language learning adventure! Let’s dive right into this unusual but interesting article.

Common Longest English Word in English Dictionary

1. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)

This is the most common longest word in the English dictionary. I would advise taking a deep breath before pronouncing it. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a type of inflammatory lung disease caused by inhaling ash and sand dust mostly near volcanoes. The word is an invented term that was coined by Everett M. Smith, the president of the National Puzzlers’ League. While the word is made up, the disease is real, and it’s known under the names pneumoconiosis, silicosis, or black lung in the UK.

2. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters)

Do you have a phobia of long words? If yes, then perhaps you are suffering from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. This word is used for someone that has a persistent fear of long words. That’s ironic, isn’t it? This word ranks as the second longest word in English.

3. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters)

You might have heard this word from the film by Mary Poppins. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is a word you can say when you actually have nothing to say. It’s also used as an expression of excitement. This word ranked as one of the longest words in English. This word also appears in some (but not all) dictionaries.

4. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters)

This term is used to describe an inherited medical disorder wherein the individual has the phenotypic appearance of pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1A but has (unexpected for the phenotype) normal labs including calcium and Potassium.

5. Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)

How important do you regard things? Do you know that the act of regarding something as unimportant is called Floccinaucinihilipilification. This word is often cited as the longest non-technical word in the English language, being one letter longer than the commonly cited antidisestablishmentarianism. It is the longest word ever recorded by Hansard after the Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg used the word in Parliament.

6. Antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters)

Opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England. This term is used to refer to the political movement in the 19th century when Britain sought to separate church and state by disestablishing the Church of England as the official state church of England, Ireland, and Wales. This word has been cited as the longest word in the English language (excluding coined and technical terms like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis), although some sources say that it is not used enough to carry that title.

7. Honorificabilitudinitatibus (27 letters)

This is the longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels, and it is also the longest word in Shakespeare’s works. The term means a state of being able to achieve honors.

8. Thyroparathyroidectomized (25 letters)

This is a medical term used to define the surgical removal of both the thyroid and parathyroid glands in the body

9. Dichlorodifluoromethane (23 letters)

This is a compound known as chlorofluoromethane (CF2Cl2). Dichlorodifluoromethane is a colorless gas usually sold under the brand name Freon-12, and a chlorofluorocarbon halomethane (CFC) used as a refrigerant and aerosol spray propellant.

Longest Word in English without Vowels

There are also some long English words that have no vowels in them. For example

Twyndyllyngs

This word is officially the longest word in the English language without using any of the five vowels. It is a Welsh-originated word that basically means twins.

Symphysy

This is the second longest English word without a vowel, and it means the fusion of two bodies or parts.

Longest One-Syllable Word in English

The majority of the longest words in the English language are technical or medical terms formed by a string of individual parts. But there are also some unusually long words that only have one syllable. Some of them include:

Schlepped

Scratched

Scrounged

Scrunched

Logest Palindrome Word in English

A palindrome is a word that reads the same forward and backward. Words such as level, mom, noon, etc. But what’s the longest palindrome word in English? The word is Tattarrattat. This word is invented by James Joyce to describe the sound of the knock on the door

Longest word in English for place names

Interestingly there are names of places you will never believe exist in this world not because they never existed but because of the length of their name. Let us look at some

1. Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu (85 letters)

Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu is the name of a hill near Porangahau, in the south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The height of the hill is 305 metres (1,001 ft) and its notable primarily for its unusually long name, which is of Māori origin; it is often shortened to Taumata for brevity. It has gained a measure of fame as it is the longest place name found in any English-speaking country, and possibly the longest place name in the world, according to World Atlas. The name of the hill has also been listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest place name in the world

2. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (58 letters)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll is a large village and local government community on the island of Anglesey, Wales, on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. Both shortened (Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG) and lengthened (Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch) forms of the place name are used in various contexts.

3. Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (45 letters)

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, also called Lake Chaubunagungamaug or Webster Lake, lake, central Massachusetts, USA is located in southern Worcester county near the town of Webster. The lake’s name is reportedly given by the Nipmuc people (Algonquian-speaking North American Indian group) means “You fish on your side; I fish on my side; nobody fishes in the middle,”. Although there is evidence that this interpretation was fabricated by a local news correspondent in the early 20th century.

4. Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein (44 letters)

Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein is the name of a farm in the North West province of South Africa, located about 200 km west of Pretoria and 20 km east of Lichtenburg, whose 44-character name has entered South African folklore. It is the longest place name in South Africa. The name means “the spring where two buffaloes were shot stone-dead with one shot” (Afrikaans: Twee buffels met een skoot morsdood geskiet fontein). This name illustrates the compounding nature of Germanic languages including Afrikaans, which itself derived from Dutch.

5. Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik (31 letters)

Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik Lake is a lake in Manitoba, Canada. The name is from the Cree region where the wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks. It is the longest place name in Canada at 31 letters long and it is located just southeast of Red Sucker Lake in northeastern Manitoba, near its border with Ontario.

6. Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya (26 letters)

Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill (or Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya) is a hill in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara, approximately 108km away from a town called Marla.

7. Bullaunancheathrairaluinn (25 letters)

Bullaunancheathrairaluinn is the official longest-place name in Ireland. It is a name of a townland in County Galway, Ireland. This name is written in Irish rather than English.

8. Nunathloogagamiutbingoi (23 letters)

Nunathloogagamiutbingoi is the name of a beach on the southeastern coast of Nunivak Island in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, USA. Summer temperatures in the area are frequently 50 to 59 °F (10 to 15 °C), and the night is commonly 40 to 49 °F (4 to 9 °C).

Real Longest word in English?

Can you believe that we have actually not yet mentioned the real, globally accepted longest word in the English language? The longest word in English history has 189,819 letters and takes about 3 hours to pronounce. This word is a technical term for the chemical compound composed of titin. Titin is the largest known protein responsible for maintaining the passive elasticity of the muscles. The reason why this word is so long is that titin is formed by 244 individual protein domains, which are connected into one sequence. Now, imagine 244 names of chemical compounds squashed together into one word. Let’s show you a glimpse. The word is methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl…isoleucine. The entire word looks like a string of letters you accidentally wrote when you sat on your keyboard.

FAQs About Longest Word in English

Learn More Long Words in English!

As we mentioned, there are some unusually long English words that can either be found in dictionaries, used in our everyday conversations, or used as technical terms. Pronouncing these words may be difficult but you can memorize these words by first splitting them up and pronouncing each split word. For example, the longest word Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis can be pronounced by splitting into Pneumono (new-moh-no)- ultra (ul-truh) – microscopic (my-kro-skop-ick) – silico (sil-ih-koh)- volcano (vohl-kay-no)- coniosis (koh-nee-oh-sis). There are more English terms you can learn such as words about nature and names of tools used both at home and industry. To develop your English communication skills, check out AmazingTalker to connect with online English tutors who can assist you in learning the English language easily, efficiently, and quickly, and you would be speaking English like a native in a short time.