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 Guinness World Records, and by the frequency of their use in ordinary language.
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The Longest Word In German Video
Afrikaans
Afrikaans, as it is the daughter language of the Dutch language, is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length in the same way as in the Dutch language. According to the Total Book of South African Records, the longest word in the language is Tweedehandsemotorverkoopsmannevakbondstakingsvergaderingsameroeperstoespraakskrywerspersverklaringuitreikingsmediakonferensieaankondiging (136 letters), which means issuable media conference's announcement at a press release regarding the convener's speech at a secondhand car dealership union's strike meeting. This word, however, is contrived to be long and does not occur in everyday speech or writing.
Albanian
The longest word in the Albanian language is thought to be Kundërzhurmëkrijuesabërësave, which is 27 letters long, and means "Against noise maker makers".
Arabic
A common misconception is that the 9 letter word ????????? (fasayakfeekahumu, "so he will save you from them") is the longest word in the Qur'an and Arabic language. This word is not the longest word in the Qur'an and not the longest in the Arabic language. For example, take the word ??????????? ('fa'asqaynakumuhu, "and We gave it to you to drink"); this word is two letters longer than the previous one and it is the longest word in the Qur'an. The actual longest word in Arabic is ???????????????? ('afastasqaynakumuhuma, "did we ask you to give both to us to drink"), which is a 16 letter word.
Armenian
The longest word in Armenian language is considered the 29 letter-long ??????????????????????????????? (Arevajajanchaerkrapaylatakutyun). It means more or less "rays of sun lighting up everything," or, more simply, "sunshine."
The Armenian language is agglutinative and words are often formed by compounding elements and adding suffixes that modify a root word; this can be carried to extremes by creative speakers, and theoretically endless words can be made. ???????????????????????????????????????? ("Arekagnajajanchatsoghabaydzarrap'ayladagoutiun") is a 40-letter variation of similar meaning to the above word ("brilliance of the solar radiation gleaming on dewdrops"). Theoretical words include 41-letter ????????????????????????????????????????? ("manrashak'aravazanamanavajarrabedouhinernoon") - "for our finely ground sugar bowl chief saleswomen," and 97-letter ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ("anoushark'ayamorehameghahamabaghbaghagatashkhouranahmoudavajarrantamagts'madeghagalaharrachakahabaraboutiunnere") - "the vice chairmanship of the senior sweet raspberry-flavored ice cream vendors' association vacancies."
Basque
The longest word in Basque language is considered the 35 letter-long konstituziokontrakotasunarekikoetan followed by a 34 letter word bederatziehungarrenarenganainokoak.
The longest last name is Jaureguiñalaberrigoyakoiturrimendiolaberrigoitiechezarreta (58) followed by Gaztelubarriurrutikoberrengormaetxebarrialdeconecoa (51) and Iturriberrigorrigoicoerrotaberricoganekoechea (45).
The longest basque toponym is Azpilicuetagaraycosaroyarenberecolarrea (39).
Bulgarian
The longest word in Bulgarian is considered the 39 letter-long ??????????????????????????????????????? (neprotivokonstitutsionstvuvatelstvuvayte)., which means "do not perform actions against the constitution" (addressed to more than 1 person).
Czech
Traditionally, the word nejneobhospoda?ovávateln?j?ímu (adj, to the worst farmable one) 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).
- nejneobhospoda?ovávateln?j?ímu, "to the least farmable one", 30 letters
- nejzdev?tadevadesáteroroznásobiteln?j?ími, "by the most possible to be 99-tuplable out", 41 letters
- nejnerestrukturalizovávateln?j?ímu, "to the least restructurable one", 34 letters
- nejneznesrozumitel?ovávateln?j?ímu, "to the least able to be making less understandable", 34 letters
- nejnevykrystalizovávateln?j?ímu, "to the least 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.
But even longer words can be created as Danish grammar allows its user to put nouns together, forming brand new words, making it possible for a word to be arbitrarily long.
For instance, for the fairytale The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep, the author Hans Christian Andersen named one of the characters Gedebukkebensoverogundergeneralkrigskommandersergenten ("General-clothes-press-inspector-head-superintendent-Goat-legs" or in direct translation "Goaty-legged-above-and-under-general-war-commanding-sergeant") as a parody on the long Danish military titles which is 54 letters long.
Another example is multiplikationsudregningstabelshæfteopbevaringsreolsproduktionsfacilitet, 77 letters, which is "Production facility of storage shelves of boxes for notebooks for the calculations of multiplication tables." This can be extended by another two letters by adding "-er" to the end of the word, causing the word to be in plural
Dutch
Dutch, like many Germanic languages, is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length. The 53-letter word Kindercarnavalsoptochtvoorbereidingswerkzaamhedenplan, meaning "preparation activities plan 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 (2009 edition) in plural form is meervoudigepersoonlijkheidsstoornissen; 38 letters long, meaning "multiple personality disorders". The entry in the dictionary however is in the singular, counting 35 letters.
The free OpenTaal dictionary, which has been certified by the Dutch Language Union (the official Dutch language institute) and is included in many open-source applications, contains the following longest words, which are 40 letters long:
- vervoerdersaansprakelijkheidsverzekering, "carriers' liability insurance";
- bestuurdersaansprakelijkheidsverzekering, "drivers' liability insurance";
- overeenstemmingsbeoordelingsprocedures, "conformity assessment procedures" (38 letters)
The word often said to be the longest in Dutch - probably because of its funny meaning and alliteration - which has also appeared in print, is Hottentottensoldatententententoonstellingsbouwterrein ("exhibition ground for Hottentot soldiers' tents"); counting 53 letters.
English
The longest technical word in English is the scientific name for the protein titin, at 189,819 letters. Titin is the largest known polypeptide in the human body, composed of 34,350 amino acids. Though lexicographers regard generic names of chemical compounds as verbal formulae rather than English words, for its sheer length it is often included in longest-word lists.
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.
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 letters long, shown here with the added substantive "-o" ending:
- administracio (administration),
- a?tobiografio (autobiography),
- diskriminacii (to discriminate),
- konservatorio (conservatory),
- paleontologio (palaeontology),
- paralelogramo (parallelogram), and
- trigonometrio (trigonometry).
Since Esperanto allows word compounding, there are no limits on how long a word can theoretically become. A relatively short example is the 46-letter komencopaleontologiokonservatoria?estri?ontajn, which is an (accusative and plural) adjective that means "about to begin to become the leader of a contemptible palaeontology conservatory". (Such clusters are not considered good style, but are permissible under the rules of Esperanto grammar.)
Estonian
Estonian has many long words; one of the more notable ones, at 24 letters, is "kuulilennuteetunneliluuk", meaning "hatch of the bullet pathway tunnel". It is notable as it is also a palindrome, meaning it can be read from both ends.
One other long word is "uusaastaöövastuvõtuhommikuidüll" at 31 letters, denoting an idealistic 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".
Another good example of a long word is "sünnipäevanädalalõpupeopärastlõunaväsimus" (41 letters) which means "The tiredness one feels on the afternoon of the weekend birthday party". Translated literally by parts this becomes "birth day week end party after lunch tiredness".
As Estonian uses agglutination, it is possible to create very long words by converting the first word into the next word's genitive, forming a compound which can be arbitrarily long. One example is "isapaabulinnusabakattesulesilmamunavärvivabrikukuldväravaauvahtkonnaülemapühapäevajakirinnataskusisevoodrivahe" at 114 characters, meaning "the peacock's tail's covert feather's eyeball's color factory's golden gate's guard's head's Sunday jacket's breast pocket's inner lining gap". Because of this, there is no official "longest word" in the language.
Finnish
Three examples of long words that have been in everyday use in the Finnish language are kolmivaihekilowattituntimittari which means "three phase kilowatt hour meter" (32 letters), peruspalveluliikelaitoskuntayhtymä ("a public utility of a municipal federation for provision of basic services", 34 letters) and lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas "airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student" (61 letters), an actual military term, although one which has been deprecated. If conjugated forms are allowed, even longer real words can be made. Allowing derivatives and clitics allows the already lengthy word to grow even longer, although the usability of the word starts to degrade. Because Finnish uses free forming of composite words, new words can even be formed during a conversation. One can add nouns after each other without breaking grammar rules.
If one allows artificial constructs as well as using clitics and conjugated forms, one can create even longer words: such as kumarreksituteskenteleentuvaisehkollaismaisekkuudellisenneskenteluttelemattomammuuksissansakaankopahan (102 letters), which was created by Artturi Kannisto.
The longest non-compound (a single stem with prefixes and suffixes) Finnish word recognised by the Guinness Book of Records is epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkäänköhän (see also Agglutination#Extremes), based on the stem järki (reason, sanity), and it means: I wonder if - even with his/her quality of not having been made unsystematized
Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä and a defunct bar named after it, Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsi-baari, are the longest place names in use.
French
The longest usual word in French is intergouvernementalisations (27 letters), plural form of intergouvernementalisation (26 letters) but the longest known word is "anticonstitutionnellement" (25 letters).
As in English, the longest technical word in French is the scientific name for titin (189,819 letters).
Georgian
In Georgian, ??????????????????????????????????????????????? (gadmosakontrrevolutsionerebulebisnairebisatvisatso) is the most commonly accepted longest word. It contains 47 letters and means: (he/she) said that it is also for those who are like the ones that need to be back/again counter-revolutionized.
German
In German, whole numbers (smaller than 1 million) can be expressed as single words, which makes siebenhundertsiebenundsiebzigtausendsiebenhundertsiebenundsiebzig (777,777) a 65 letter word. In combination with -fach or, as a noun, (das ...) -fache, all numbers can be written as one word. A 79 letter word, Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, was named the longest published word in the German language by the 1972 Guinness Book of World Records, but longer words are possible. The word was the name of a prewar Viennese club for subordinate officials of the headquarters of the electrical division of the company named the Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft, which operated steam boats on the Danube river.
The longest word that is not created artificially as a longest-word record seems to be Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz at 63 letters. The word means "law delegating beef label monitoring" but as of 2013, it was removed from the books because European Union regulations have changed and that particular law became obsolete, leading to news reports that Germany "had lost its longest word".
In December 2016 the 51-letter word Bundespräsidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung ("deferral of the second iteration of the federal presidential run-off election") was elected the Austrian Word of the Year 2016. The jury called it a "descriptive word" which "in terms of its content as well as its length, is a symbol and an ironic form of commentary for the political events of this year, characterized by the very long campaign for the presidential election, the challenges of the voting process, and its reiteration."
Greek
In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 173-letter word Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleio-lagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon, a fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish and other meat. The word is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written. A modern Greek word of 22 letters is ?????????????????????? (ilektroenkefalográfima) (gen. ????????????????????????? (ilektroenkefalografímatos), 25 letters) meaning "electroencephalogram".
Hebrew
The longest Hebrew word is the 19-letter-long (including vowels) ??????????????????? (u'chshelentsiklopedioténu), which means "and when our encyclopedias...." The Hebrew word "???????????" (encyclopedia) is of a European origin. The longest word in Hebrew that doesn't originate from another language is "?????????????????," (u'lechshehitmarmeruyoteno) which crudely means "and when, to our resentments...."
The 11-letter-long (including vowels) ??????????????????????? (veha'a?ashdarpením) is the longest word to appear in the Hebrew Bible. Its meaning is "and the satraps". This word also does not have a Hebrew origin.
Hungarian
Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért, with 44 letters is one example of a long word in the Hungarian language and 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. The language does not have a "longest word" due to its agglutinating nature. It is always possible to construct a longer one with enough creativity. For example, legösszetettebbszóhosszúságvilágrekorddöntéskényszerneurózistünetegyüttesmegnyilvánulásfejleszthet?ségvizsgálataitokról (119 letters), which means: "About your investigations of the upgradeability of the manifestation of the syndrome of the neurosis about the need to decide which is the world record of the most complex longest word."
The longest dictionary form word is the word in use (although it is constructed from the word: szent meaning: "saint"), megszentségteleníthetetlen, with 25 characters, and means "something that cannot be desecrated".
Another word that conforms to Hungarian orthography: legeslegtöredezettségmentesíthetetlenebbeskedéseitekért (67 letters) can be translated to something like "because of your highest unfragmentationability factor".
Icelandic
The longest word in Icelandic is Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur. It has 64 letters and means "A keychain ring for the outdoor key of road workers shed in a moor called Vaðlaheiði".
Analysis of a corpus of contemporary Icelandic texts by Uwe Quasthoff, Sabine Fiedler and Erla Hallsteinsdóttir identified Alþjóðaflutningaverkamannasambandsins ("of the International Transport Workers' Federation"; 37 letters) and Norðvestur-Atlantshafsfiskveiðistofnunarinnar ("of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries' Organization"; 45 letters) as the longest unhyphenated and hyphenated words.
Indonesian
The longest word in Indonesian is ketidakbertanggungjawabannyalah, means "it is his/her irresponsibility that (does something)", in the order form. It is composed of 31 letters.
Irish
The longest word in common use in Irish is leas-phríomhfheidhmeannaigh, meaning "deputy chief executives." It has 26 letters.
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:
- precipitevole: "hasty";
- precipitevolissimo: "very hasty";
- precipitevolissimevole: "[of someone/something] that acts very hastily", (not grammatically correct);
- precipitevolissimevolmente: "in a way like someone/something that 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
The word technically violates Italian grammar rules, the correct form being precipitevolissimamente, which is three 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)..
Other long words are:
- hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliofobia (35 letters)
- nonilfenossipolietilenossietonolo (33 letters)
- pentagonododecaedrotetraedrico (30 letters)
- esofagodermatodigiunoplastica (29 letters)
- elettroencefalograficamente (27 letters)
- diclorodifeniltricloroetano (27 letters)
- intradermopalpebroreazione (26 letters).
Japanese
?????????????????????? has 22 "letters" when kana and kanji are counted as letters. It is pronounced Gur?to Buriten Oyobi Kita-Airurando Rengou ?koku (???????????????????????????) which is 27 morae. It is a noun meaning "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Kazakh
The longest Kazakh word is ????????????????????????????????? (qana?attand?r?lma?and?qtar?ñ?zdan), meaning "because of your dissatisfaction". It is 33 letters long.
Korean
There is some disagreement about what is the longest word in the Korean language. The longest word appearing in the Standard Korean Dictionary published by the National Institute of the Korean Language is ????????????????? (?????????????????); Revised Romanization: cheongjayang-in-gakyeondangchosang-gammoranmuneun-gudaejeop), which is a kind of ceramic bowl from the Goryeo dynasty; that word is 17 syllable blocks long, and contains a total of 46 hangul letters. The term ??????? ??? ????????? (nikotin-amaideu adenin dainyukeulle-otaideu), a phonetic transcription of "nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide", has a larger number of syllable blocks (19) but a smaller number of letters (41), and also might not qualify as a single word due to the spaces.
In proper nouns, many Korean monarchs have long posthumous names built from many different Sino-Korean nouns describing their positive characteristics, for example Sunjo of Joseon, whose full posthumous name is the 77-syllable-block ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? (sunjoseongag-yeondeoghyeondogyeong-insunhuicheseong-eungmyeongheumgwangseoggyeong-gyecheonbaegeug-yung-wondonhyuuihaengsoyunhuihwajunlyeoldaejungjijeonghonghuncheolmogeonsitaehyeongchang-unhong-gigomyeongbaghugang-geonsujeong-gyetongsulyeoggong-yubeommun-anmujeong-yeong-gyeongseonghyodaewang).
Latvian
The longest technical terms are common with other European languages, but the longest non-technical word is pretpulkste?r?d?t?jvirziens, 27 letters long, which means "counter-clockwise direction".
Lithuanian
The longest Lithuanian word is 40 letters long:
- nebeprisiki?kiakop?stlapiaujan?iuosiuose - "in those, of masculine gender, who aren't gathering enough wood sorrel's leaves by themselves anymore." - the plural locative case of past iterative active participle of verb ki?kiakop?stlapiauti meaning "to pick wood-sorrels' leaves" (leaves of edible forest plant with sour taste, word by word translation "rabbit cabbage"). The word is attributed to software developer / writer Andrius Stasauskas.
One other longest Lithuanian words are 39 letters long:
- the participle nebeprisiki?kiakop?steliaudavusiuose, "in 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 ki?kiakop?steliauti meaning "to pick wood-sorrels" (edible forest plant with sour taste, word by word translation "rabbit's cabbage"). The word is commonly attributed to famous Lithuanian language teacher Jonas Kvederaitis, who actually used the plural first person of past iterative tense, nebeprisiki?kiakop?staudavome.
There are two Lithuanian words sharing 35 letters:
- the participle nebeprisiki?kiakop?steliaudavusiems, "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 ki?kiakop?steliauti;
- the adjective septyniasde?imtseptyniasluoksniuose - the plural locative case of the adjective septyniasde?imtseptyniasluoksnis meaning "(object) with seventy-seven layers".
Malay
There are two 46-letter words that are cited to be the longest words in the Malay language. Both are technical terms:
- menyepodaknyahcasdiversifikasielektrostatikkan (to undiversify uncharged electrostatic electricity.)
- penyetidaknyahcasdiversifikasielektrostatikkan (the process of undiversifiying uncharged electrostatic electricity.)
While the longest non-technical word in the Malay language is the 23-letter word, ketidakbolehkuatkuasaan, which means "unenforceability". Also kumempertanggungjawabkannyalah (30 letters), which means "right when I gave the responsibility to him".
M?ori
The 85-letter place name Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikomaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu was the longest place name in the M?ori language.
Norwegian
The longest word in Norwegian, that is a real word in ordinary use, is menneskerettighetsorganisasjonene (33 letters). The meaning is "the human rights organizations". Being used mostly in statistics, the term sannsynlighetstetthetsfunksjonene (meaning "the probability density functions") is also 33 characters long. The physics term minoritetsladningsbærerdiffusjonskoeffisientmålingsapparatur has 60 characters, but is not a common word. Its meaning is "(a) device for measuring the distance between particles in a crystal".
In theory, though, it is possible in Norwegian to make words as long as one wants; for instance, menneskerettighetsorganisasjonssekretæren (the secretary of a human rights organization), menneskerettighetsorganisasjonssekretærkurset (the course for secretaries working for human rights organizations), menneskerettighetsorganisasjonssekretærkursmateriellet (the material for a course for secretaries working for human rights organizations), and so on, are possible. The reason is that compounds are, unlike in English, mostly closed in Norwegian (skolebuss vs. school bus). Definite articles are also suffixed instead of being separate words (bussen vs. the bus), which may lengthen nouns by an additional two-three letters.
Polish
The longest Polish words can be created as adjectives from numerals and nouns.
Dziewi??setdziewi??dziesi?ciodziewi?cionarodowo?ciowego, 54 letters, is the genitive singular form of an adjective meaning roughly "of nine-hundred and ninety-nine nationalities".
Similar words are rather artificial compounds, constructed within allowed grammar rules, but are seldom used in spoken language, although they are not nonsense words. It is possible to make even longer words in this way, for example:
Dziewi??setdziewi??dziesi?tdziewi??miliardówdziewi??setdziewi??dziesi?tdziewi??milionówdziewi??setdziewi??dziesi?tdziewi??tysi?cydziewi??setdziewi??dziesi?ciodziewi?cioletniego (176 letters, meaning "of 999,999,999,999 years old").
One of the longest common words is 31-letter dziewi??dziesi?ciokilkuletniemu - the dative singular form of "ninety-and-some years old one". Another common long word is pi??dziesi?ciogroszówka (23 letters), "a 50 groszy coin".
Portuguese
The 52-letter word pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconioticozinhos (plural diminutive of pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconiótico) is the longest word . It is a plural noun referring to sufferers of the disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The 29-letter word anticonstitucionalissimamente (adverb, meaning "most anticonstitutionally") is recognized as being the longest non-technical word.
Romanian
The 44-letter word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioz? is the longest word. It is a noun referring to the disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
Russian
Theoretically, it is possible to create Russian words of unlimited length, for example: ?????????...??????? (praprapra...dedushka, great great great...grandfather). Most likely one of the longest originally-Russian words is ??????????????????????????????????? (prevysokomnogorassmotritelstvuyushchy) which contains 35 letters, in its dative singular form ???????????????????????????????????? (prevysokomnogorassmotritelstvuyushchemu, with 36 letters), which can be an example of excessively official vocabulary of the 19th century. The longest numeral compounds can be longer, such as ?????????????????????????????????????????????? (Tysyachevosmisotvosmidesyatidevyatimikrometrovy), which is an adjective containing 46 letters, meaning "1889-micrometer".
Sanskrit
Sanskrit allows word compounding of arbitrary length. Nouns and verbs can be expressed in a sentence. The longest sentence ever used in Sanskrit literature is (in Devanagari):
In IAST transliteration:
from the Varad?mbik? Pari?aya Camp? by Tirumal?mb?, in transliteration composed of 431 letters, thus making it the longest word ever to appear in worldwide literature.
Each hyphen separates every individual word this word is composed of.
The approximate meaning of this word is:
Slovak
Traditionally, the word najneobhospodarovate?nej?iemu is considered as the longest Slovak 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).
- najneobhospodarovate?nej?iemu, "to the worst farmable one", 29 letters
Artificial words, lexically valid but never used in language
- najnerozkrasokor?u?ovate?nej?ieho, 33 letters
- znajneprekry?talizovávate?nej?ievajúcimi, 44 letters, "through the least crystallised ones"
- znajnepreinternacionalizovate?nej?ieva?, 39 letters
Numbers, can by considered as a single multicharacter word, but commonly written as separated numbers.
- sedemstodevä?desiatsedemtisícsedemstodevä?desiatsedem (797,797) - 54 letters - sedem sto devä?desiatsedem tisíc sedem sto devä?desiatsedem
Spanish
The longest word in Spanish is the 54-letter pentakismyriahexakisquiliotetracosiohexacontapentágono ("56465-side polygon"). Other long words are "Pneumonoultramicroscopisilicovulcanoconiosis" (lung disease caused by silica poisoning), "hipopotomounstruosesquipedaliofobia" (fear of long words), "esternocleidomastoideitis" (inflammation of the sternocleidomastoid muscle) and "anticonstitucionalmente" ([proceeding in a manner that is] contrary to the constitution) and "electroencefalografistas" (specialists that do electrical scans on brains).
The word "anticonstitucionalmente" is usually considered the longest word in general use. This word can be made even longer by the addition of the absolute superlative suffix, rendering "anticonstitucionalísimamente" (i.e.: "very strongly against the constitution"). Some dictionaries (but not the RAE dictionary) removed its root word ("anticonstitucional") in 2005, causing comments about it not "being a valid word anymore" and suggesting the use of "inconstitucional" as a replacement, but it doesn't have the same meaning, making this alleged removal an improper one.
The word "otorrinolaringología" is also considered the one of the longest words in general use in Spanish language.
Swedish
Realisationsvinstbeskattning (28 letters) is the longest word in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista. It means "capital gains taxation", and is usually shortened to Reavinstskatt (same meaning). However, Swedish grammar makes it possible to create arbitrarily long words. One such word is Spårvagnsaktiebolagsskensmutsskjutarefackföreningspersonalbeklädnadsmagasinsförrådsförvaltarens (94 letters) which means: "[belonging to] The manager of the depot for the supply of uniforms to the personnel of the track cleaners' union of the tramway company".
Tagalog
The longest Filipino word in a dictionary is the 32-letter, 14-syllable Pinakanakapagpapabagabag-damdamin, which means "the most emotionally disturbing/upsetting thing", from the root bagabag which means "to upset".
Like all other Philippine languages, Tagalog is an agglutinative language, and because of this there are many opportunities in everyday speech to create long words (by English standards).
Examples of this include:
- Nagsisipagsisinunga-sinungalingan (32 letters, 13 syllables) meaning "trying to scatter pretended lies", from sisinunga-sinungalingan ("pretending to lie")
- Nakikipagsisinunga-sinungalingan (31 letters, 13 syllables) meaning "[two] people trying to scatter pretended lies with each other"
- Pinagpinamamagaspasan (21 letters, 9 syllables) meaning "a dusty place where chickens usually groom themselves"
Turkish
Muvaffakiyetsizle?tiricile?tiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmi?sinizcesine, at 70 letters, has been cited as the longest Turkish word, though it is a compound word and Turkish, as an agglutinative language, carries the potential for words of arbitrary length.
1. Muvaffakiyetsizle?tiricile?tiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmi?sinizcesine, at 70 letters, means "As if you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones".
2. Çekoslovakyal?la?t?ramad?klar?m?zdanm??s?n?z means "I think you are one of those people whom we could not turn into a Czechoslovakian"
3. Afyonkarahisarl?la?t?rabildiklerimizdenmi?sinizcesine means "As if you are one of the people that we made resemble from Afyonkarahisar".
Word formation
Ukrainian
Long words are not typical for Ukrainian so the majority of them in this language are of foreign descent and mostly related to science. Perhaps the longest word of the Ukrainian language in the Nominative case is ?????????????????????????????? (dyxlordyfeniltryxlormetylmetan, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT) which contains 30 letters. In the Instrumental case this word contains 32 letters. There may be longer chemical terms in Ukrainian, such as the 34-letter long ?????????????????????????????????? (Nikotynamidadenindynukleotydfosfat), which means nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate.
Theoretically, there can be words with unlimited length, for example: ?????????...?????? (praprapra...didusj, great great great...grandfather).
Urdu
The longest word in Urdu is ???????? 'Qustuntuniya' , the old name of Istanbul city.
Vietnamese
Nghiêng, with 7 letters, meaning "inclined, lean", is the longest morpheme in the mostly disyllabic Vietnamese language. It is unclear as to what the longest actual word is but they can go to 5 syllables or beyond. Examples include:
S?-ph?n-?ng-trung-hòa (Neutralization).
S?-ph?n-??i-vi?c-tách-nhà-th?-ra-kh?i-nhà-n??c (Antidisestablishmentarianism).
Welsh
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, a railway station on the island of Anglesey in Wales, is the longest place name in the Welsh language. At 51 letters in the Welsh alphabet (the digraphs ll and ch are each collated as single letters) 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.
Long words are comparatively rare in Welsh. Candidates for long words other than proper nouns include the following (the digraph dd is also treated as a single letter, as is ng in many instances including in the last word below):
- gwrthddatgysylltiadaeth (antidisestablishmentarianism)
- microgyfrifiaduron (microcomputers)
- tra-arglwyddiaethasant (they predominated)
- cyfrwngddarostynedigaeth (intercession)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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