¨p¨TThe 12 Longest and Most Difficult Words in English¨p¨T
You think you have a good vocabulary? Try using these words in a sentence. As in ¡°I totally screwed your mom in the hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies¡±.
1.HonorificabilitudinitatibusThis word has 27 letters which appears in Love¡¯s Labour¡¯s Lost, Act V, Scene I, which means ¡°invincible glorious¡± or ¡°Honorableness.¡± It is the ablative plural of the Latin contrived honorificabilitudinitas, which is an extension of honorificabilis meaning ¡°honorableness.¡± This word was spoken by Costard in Shakespeare¡¯s plays:O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.
I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon.2.AntidisestablishmentarianismThis is the best known long word which has 28 letters. It means ¡°opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England¡± as explained in Dictionary.com. Specifically, it is the political philosophy that is opposed to the separation of the church and state. This term originated in the context of the 19th century Church of England, antidisestablishmentarians were opposed to proposals to remove its status as the state church of England. It has been quoted once by the British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, 1809- 1898. This word can be broken down as follows:~ism¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..The philosophy of~arian¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.those people who belive in~anti¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­opposition to~dis¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..the removal of~establishment¡­¡­.The Church of England as the official state church
3.FloccinauccinihilipilificationThis 30- letter-word is a non-scientific English word and it appears in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. It is longer than antidisestablishmentarianism. The 1992 Guinness Book of World Records calls floccinaucinihilipilification ¡°the longest real word in the Oxford English Dictionary,¡± whereas it calls pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis ¡°the longest made-up word in the Oxford English Dictionary.¡± It means ¡°act or habit to deny the value of some particular things¡± but some dictionaries translate it as ¡°the act of considering something to be worthless.¡± It was formed by Estonian scholars, who searched for as many Latin words meaning ¡°nothing¡± or ¡°not very much as possible¡±: flocci (means ¡°a little bit,¡± but literally it means ¡°a bit of wool¡±), nauci (means very little), nihili (means ¡°nothing¡±), pili (means ¡°very little¡±); fused them together, and then added the suffix ¡°fication¡± on the end, to give the sense of an action.This word has been used by Sir Walter Scott and Senators Robert Byrd and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. It was used by Senator Jesse Helms in 1999 during the debate on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [Randolph V. Cinco]. It also appeared on March 14, 1996, in ¡°Zippy,¡± a comic strip distributed by King Features Syndicateo you think I may be too quick to find fault with things and people, Zippy?
Yeh.
Th¡¯ ¡®floccinaucinihilipilification¡¯ process.
Th¡¯ what?
Floccinaucinihilipilification!! It means ¡®the estimation of something as valueless¡¯!
You¡¯ve been randomly reading th¡¯ dictionary, haven¡¯t you?
Yes. That and my natural tendency toward antifloccinaucinihilipilification!!
Floccinaucinihilipilification was also used by Press Secretary Mike McCurry in his December 6, 1995, White House Press Briefing in discussing Congressional Budget Office estimates and assumptions: ¡°But if you¡ªas a practical matter of estimating the economy, the difference is not great. There¡¯s a little bit of floccinaucinihilipilification going on here.¡±
4.Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious1949: Parker & Young (unpublished song-title): Supercalafajalistickespialadojus.1951: Parker & Young (song-title): Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus; or, The super song.1964: R. M. & R. B; Sherman (song-title): Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!1967: Decisions U.S. Courts involving Copyright 1965-66 488 The complaint alleges copyright infringement of plaintiff¡¯s song `Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus¡¯ by defendants¡¯ song ¡®Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.¡¯ (All variants of this tongue twister will hereinafter be referred to collectively as ¡®the word¡¯.)Above citations show that this stunning word has been noted for its first four letters from 1949 to 1967.This 34-letter word appears in the Oxford English Dictionary. It is a word specifically created for a song in the movie Mary Poppins until its film version of the musical was popular enough that everyone got to know this word.
5.HepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomiesThis 39-letter long is the longest word found in Gould¡¯s Medical Dictionary. It is a surgical terminology, which refers to surgical creation of a connection between the gall bladder and a hepatic duct and between the intestine and the gall bladder.
6.PneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisThis 45-letter long word is the longest word found in dictionaries. According to the eighth edition of Webster dictionary, it means, ¡°pneumoconiosis disease caused by inhaling small particles of quartzite.¡± This is the scientific name for a coal miner¡¯s disease, which is particularly caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust. It is the lung disease that miners in Africa came down with from getting silicon silvers in their lungs.On Feb. 23, 1935, the New York Herald-Tribune reported on page 3:Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis succeeded electrophotomicro-graphically as the longest word in the English language recognized by the National Puzzlers¡¯ League at the opening session of the organization¡¯s 103d semi-annual meeting held yesterday at the Hotel New Yorker.
The puzzlers explained that the forty-five-letter word is the name of a special form of silicosis caused by ultra-microscopic particles of siliceous volcanic dust.