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 Guinness World Records, and by the frequency of their use in ordinary language.

In Sortable Table

Max	Language (non scientific)
136	Afrikaans
15	Arabic
39	Bulgarian
30	Croatian
41	Czech
51	Danish
49	Dutch
45	English
12	Esperanto (shortest)
24	Estonian
61	Finnish
29	French
42	Georgian
79	German
173	Greek
17	Hebrew
44	Hungarian
64	Icelandic
25	Indonesian
25	Irish
30	Italian
27	Latvian
37	Lithuanian
46	Malay
85	Māori
30	Montenegrin
33	Norwegian
32	Polish
29	Portuguese
44	Romanian
36	Russian
431	Sanskrit (Longest)
30	Serbian
39	Slovak
54	Spanish
?	Swedish
32	Tagalog
70	Turkish

Afrikaans

Words in the Afrikaans language can at times be particularly long due to the compounding nature of the language. According to the Total Book of South African Records, the longest word in the language is ^[1] 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.

Arabic

A common misconception is that the word فسيكفيكهم (fasayakfeekahum, "so he will save you from them") is the longest word in the Arabic language. This word is the longest word in the Quran but, not the longest in the Arabic language. For example, take the word أفأسقيناكموه (’af’asqynakmwh, "did we give it to you to drink"); this word is one letter longer than the previous one. An even longer word, at 15 letters, is أفإستسقيناكموها (’af’astsqynakmwha, "did we ask you to give it to us to drink"). سبحان الله وبحمده

Bulgarian

The longest word in Bulgarian is considered the 39 letter-long непротивоконституционствувателствувайте (neprotivokonstitutsionstvuvatelstvuvayte).^[2]

Croatian

Officially the longest word in Croatian is 30-letters long prijestolonasljednikovičičinima (lj is considered a one letter in Croatian alphabet). Translation would be "of little heiress apparent to the throne" in plural dative case. There are also forms of long words which include numbers, but those words are never officially counted as the longest since one could form indefinitely long words in such way (e.g. 36 letters long sedamdesetsedmerogodišnjakinjičičinima what would mean "of little 77 years old woman" in plural dative case).

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). ^{[citation needed]}

• nejneobhospodařovávatelnějšímu, "to the least farmable one", 30 letters
• nejzdevětadevadesáteroroznásobitelnějšími, "by the most possible to be 99-tuplable out"#, 41 letters
• nejnerestrukturalizovávatelnějšímu, "to the least restructurable one", 34 letters
• nejneznesrozumitelňovávatelnějšímu, "to the least able to be making less understandable", 34 letters
• nejnevykrystalizovávatelnějšímu, "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.^{[citation needed]} Konstantinopolitanerinde, 24 letters, meaning female inhabitant of Constantinople, is often mentioned as the longest non-compound word.^{[citation needed]}

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") 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", a factory which will hopefully never need a road sign pointing in its direction.

Dutch

Dutch, like many Germanic languages, 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.^[3]

The longest word in the authoritative Van Dale Dutch dictionary (2009 edition) in plural form is meervoudigepersoonlijkheidsstoornissen;^[4] 38 letters long, meaning "multiple personality syndromes". The entry in the dictionary however is in the singular, counting 35 letters. In many publications meervoudigepersoonlijkheidsstoornis is written as two words: meervoudige (multiple) persoonlijkheidsstoornis (personality disorder). However, written as one word meervoudige refers only to persoonlijkheid (personality), while written as separate words meervoudige refers to persoonlijkheidssyndroom (personality syndrome). the one-word version reflects the meaning more accurately.

The longest entry in the 1984 edition of the same dictionary was zandzeepsodemineraalwatersteenstralen, 37 letters, a variation of opsodemieteren, meaning "to fob off".

The free OpenTaal dictionary,^[5] 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, "directors' 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 hottentottententententoonstellingsterrein ("exhibition ground for Hottentot tents");^[6] counting 41 letters. If this word is pluralised, it adds another two 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 longest word mainly published is ethionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl…serene.

The 45-letter word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest English word that appears in a major dictionary.^[7] Originally coined to become a candidate for the longest word in English, the term eventually developed some independent use in medicine.^[8] It is referred to as "P45" by researchers.^[9]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Esperanto

The longest official Esperanto roots are 12 letters long, shown here with added the substantive "-o" ending:

• administracio (administration),
• aŭtobiografio (autobiography),
• diskriminacii (to discriminate),
• konservatorio (conservatory),
• paleontologio (palaeontology),
• paralelogramo (parallelogram), and
• trigonometrio (trigonometry).^[10]

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 komencopaleontologiokonservatoriaĉestriĝontajn, 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 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 ends.

One other long word is uusaastaöövastuvõtuhommikuidüll at 31 characters, denoting an 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".

Another good example of a long word is "sünnipäevanädalalõpupeopärastlõunaväsimus" which means “The tiredness one feels on the afternoon of the weekend birthday party”. Or if you break it down into parts “birth.day.week.end.party.after.lunch.tiredness”.

In Estonian it's possible to create very long words by converting the first word into the next word's genitive, forming a compound which can be practically infinite, one example is "isaspaabulinnusabakattesulesilmamunavärvivabrikukuldväravaauvahtkonnaülemapühapäevajakirinnataskusisevoodrivahe" at 114 characters.

Finnish

Two examples of long words that have been in everyday use in the Finnish language are kolmivaihekilowattituntimittari which means "three phase kilowatt hour meter" (31 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. The Finnish language 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 ^{[citation needed]}.

The longest non-compound Finnish word recognised by the Guinness Book of Records is epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkäänköhän (see also Agglutination#Extremes of agglutination).

French

The longest usual word in French is anticonstitutionnellement (25 letters), meaning "anticonstitutionally" (in a way which is not conforming to the constitution).^[11] However, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobie (29 letters) is longer, and means Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (The fear of number 666)

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

Georgian

In Georgian, გაკონტრრევოლუციონერებულებისნაირებისათვისაც is most commonly accepted longest word. It contains 42 letters and means: also for those who have turned like counterrevolutionaries.

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 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, but longer words are possible. The word refers to a division of an Austrian steam-powered 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 Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz at 63 letters. The word means "law delegating beef label monitoring" but as of 2013 the law was removed from the books because European Union regulations have changed, leading to news reports that Germany "had lost its longest word".^[12]

Greek

In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 173-letter word λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων. 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.^[13]

Hebrew

The longest Hebrew word is the 19-letter-long וכשלאנציקלופדיותינו (u'chshelentsiklopedioténu), which means "and when our encyclopedias will have...." The Hebrew word "אנציקלופדיה" (encyclopedia) is of a European origin. The longest word in Hebrew that doesn't originate from another language is "וכשלהתמרמרויותינו," which crudely means "and when, to our resentments...."

The 11-letter-long וְהָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים (veha'aḥashdarpením) is the longest word to appear in the Hebrew Old Testament. Its meaning is "and the satraps". This word doesn't have a Hebrew origin as well.

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.

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 can be translated to something like "because of your highest unfragmentationability factor".

Icelandic

The longest word in Icelandic is Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur.^[14] It has 64 letters and means "A ring on a key chain for the outdoor of a tool storage shed used by road workers on (the hill) Vaðlaheiði".

Indonesian

The longest word in Indonesian is mempertanggungjawabkannya, means "to be responsible of one's doing." It is composed of 25 letters.

Irish

The longest word in common use in Irish is leas-phríomhfheidhmeannach, meaning "deputy chief executive." It has 25 letters.

Italian

The longest word in Italian is traditionally precipitevolissimevolmente, which is a 26-letter-long adverb.^[15] 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 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

—Francesco Moneti, Cortona Convertita, canto III, LXV

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).^{[citation needed]}

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".^{[citation needed]}

Lithuanian

The two longest Lithuanian words are 37 letters long: 1) the adjective septyniasdešimtseptyniastraipsniuose – the plural locative case of the adjective septyniasdešimtseptyniastraipsnis, meaning "(object) with seventy-seven articles"; 2) the participle nebeprisikiškiakopūsteliaudavusiuose, "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 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.^{[citation needed]}

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".

Malay

There are two 46-letter word that are cited to be the longest word 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 22-letter word, mempertanggungjawabkan, which means "to be responsible".

Māori

The 85-letter place name Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikomaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu was the longest place name in the Māori language.^{[citation needed]}

Montenegrin

The longest word in Montenegrin, although not in common use, is prijestolonasljednikovićevica (30 letters), and that word is used to describe a female member of royal family.^{[citation needed]}

Norwegian

The longest word in Norwegian, that is a real word in ordinary use, is menneskerettighetsorganisasjonene (33 letters).^{[citation needed]} 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 are adjectives created from numerals and nouns.^{[citation needed]}

Dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcionarodowościowego, 54 letters, is an inclined genitive form of word, 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's possible to make even longer words that way, for example:

Dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćmiliardówdziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćmilionówdziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćtysięcydziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcioletni (173 letters, meaning "999,999,999,999 years old").

One of the longest common words is 31-letter dziewięćdziesięciokilkuletniemu – a form of "ninety-and-some years old one". Other long words are Konstantynopolitańczykowianeczka (32 letters) – an old-fashioned word for an unmarried daughter of a man from Constantinople - and pięćdziesięciogroszówka (23 letters), "a 50 groszy coin".

Portuguese

The 46-letter word pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconioticozinhos (plural diminutive of pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconiótico) is the longest word^{[citation needed]} . It is an adjective referring to a sufferer of the disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The 29-letter word anticonstitucionalissimamente (adverb, meaning "in a very unconstitutional way") is recognized as being the longest non-technical word.^{[citation needed]}

Romanian

The 44-letter word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioză is the longest word. It is a noun referring to the disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.^[16]

Russian

Theoretically, there can be words with unlimited length, for example: прапрапра...дедушка (praprapra...dedushka, great great great...grandfather). Probably one of the longest originally-Russian word is превысокомногорассмотрительствующий (prevysokomnogorassmotritelstvuyushchy) which contains 35 letters, or its dative case form превысокомногорассмотрительствующему (prevysokomnogorassmotritelstvuyushchemu, with 36 letters), which can be an example of excessively official vocabulary of 19th century. The longest numeral compounds, such as Тысячевосьмисотвосьмидесятидевятимикрометровый (Tysyachevosmisotvosmidesyatidevyatimikrometrovy), which is an adjective containing 46 letters, meaning "1889-micrometer".^{[citation needed]}

Sanskrit

Sanskrit allows making a word as long as needed. Nouns and verbs can be expressed in one word. The longest word ever used in Sanskrit literature is (in Devanagari):

निरन्तरान्धकारिता-दिगन्तर-कन्दलदमन्द-सुधारस-बिन्दु-सान्द्रतर-घनाघन-वृन्द-सन्देहकर-स्यन्दमान-मकरन्द-बिन्दु-बन्धुरतर-माकन्द-तरु-कुल-तल्प-कल्प-मृदुल-सिकता-जाल-जटिल-मूल-तल-मरुवक-मिलदलघु-लघु-लय-कलित-रमणीय-पानीय-शालिका-बालिका-करार-विन्द-गलन्तिका-गलदेला-लवङ्ग-पाटल-घनसार-कस्तूरिकातिसौरभ-मेदुर-लघुतर-मधुर-शीतलतर-सलिलधारा-निराकरिष्णु-तदीय-विमल-विलोचन-मयूख-रेखापसारित-पिपासायास-पथिक-लोकान्

In IAST transliteration:

nirantarāndhakāritā-digantara-kandaladamanda-sudhārasa-bindu-sāndratara-ghanāghana-vr̥nda-sandehakara-syandamāna-makaranda-bindu-bandhuratara-mākanda-taru-kula-talpa-kalpa-mr̥dula-sikatā-jāla-jaṭila-mūla-tala-maruvaka-miladalaghu-laghu-laya-kalita-ramaṇīya-pānīya-śālikā-bālikā-karāra-vinda-galantikā-galadelā-lavaṅga-pāṭala-ghanasāra-kastūrikātisaurabha-medura-laghutara-madhura-śītalatara-saliladhārā-nirākariṣṇu-tadīya-vimala-vilocana-mayūkha-rekhāpasārita-pipāsāyāsa-pathika-lokān

from the Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya Campū by Tirumalāmbā,^[17] in transliteration composed of 431 letters, thus making it the longest word ever to appear in worldwide literature.^[18]

Each hyphen separates every individual word this word is composed of.

The approximate meaning of this word is: "In it, the distress, caused by thirst, to travellers, was alleviated by clusters of rays of the bright eyes of the girls; the rays that were shaming the currents of light, sweet and cold water charged with the strong fragrance of cardamom, clove, saffron, camphor and musk and flowing out of the pitchers (held in) the lotus-like hands of maidens (seated in) the beautiful water-sheds, made of the thick roots of vetiver mixed with marjoram, (and built near) the foot, covered with heaps of couch-like soft sand, of the clusters of newly sprouting mango trees, which constantly darkened the intermediate space of the quarters, and which looked all the more charming on account of the trickling drops of the floral juice, which thus caused the delusion of a row of thick rainy clouds, densely filled with abundant nectar."

Serbian

The longest word in Serbian language, except the ones that describe person's age, seems to be a 26-letter long word prestolonaslednikovićevica, which means something like a woman who seemed to inherit the throne of the Crown prince or prijestolonasljednikovićevica (30), which means the same, but in ijekavian dialect. The second longest word is otorinolaringologija (20), which means otorhinolaryngology. The longest word which describes a person's age is devedesetdevetogodišnjakinjina, which means 99-year-old woman's (possessive).

Slovak

The longest Slovak word is Najneprekryštalizovávateľnejšievajúcimi (39 letters), which means "most anticrystallizing" in the instrumental plural.^{[citation needed]}

Spanish

The longest word in Spanish is the 54-letter behemoth pentakismyriahexakisquilioletracosiohexacontapentágono ("56645-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. Some dictionaries (but not the RAE dictionary^[19]) 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 "otorrinolaringologia" 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 tax". However, Swedish grammar makes it possible to create infinite words. One such word is Spårvagnsaktiebolagsskensmutsskjutarefackföreningspersonalbeklädnadsmagasinsförrådsförvaltarens (95 letters) which means: "The manager of the depot for the supply of uniforms to the personnel of the track cleaners' union of the tramway company's".^[20]

Tagalog

The longest known Filipino word in a dictionary is the 32-letter, 14-syllable Pinakanakapagpapabagabag-damdamin, which means "the most emotionally disturbing (or upsetting) thing" from the root bagabag which means "to upset".

Like all other Philippine languages, Tagalog is an agglutinate language, and because of this there are many opportunities in everyday speech to create long words (by English standards).

Examples of this include:

• Pinagpinamamagaspasan (21 letters, 9 syllables) meaning "a dusty place where chickens usually groom themselves"
• Nagsisipagsisinunga-sinungalingan (32-letters, 13-syllables) meaning "trying to scatter pretended lies."^[21]
• Nakikipagsisinunga-sinungalingan (31 letters, 13 syllables) meaning "[two] people trying to scatter pretended lies with each other" from the root sisinunga-sinungalingan ('pretending to lie')

Turkish

Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine, 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 theoretically infinite length.^{[citation needed]}

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

2. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız means "I think you are one of those people whom we could not turn into a Czechoslovakian?"

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

Word formation

Turkish	English
Muvaffak	Successful
Muvaffakiyet	Success
Muvaffakiyetsiz	Unsuccessful ('without success')
Muvaffakiyetsizleş(-mek)	(To) become unsuccessful
Muvaffakiyetsizleştir(-mek)	(To) make one unsuccessful
Muvaffakiyetsizleştirici	Maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileş(-mek)	(To) become a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştir(-mek)	(To) make one a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriver(-mek)	(To) easily/quickly make one a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriverebil(-mek)	(To) be able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebil(-mek)	Not (to) be able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilecek	One who is not able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilecekler	Those who are not able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimiz	Those whom we cannot make easily/quickly a maker unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizden	From those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmiş	(Would be) from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsiniz	You would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones
Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine	As if you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones

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 дихлордифенілтрихлорметилметан (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.

Theoretically, there can be words with unlimited length, for example: прапрапра...дідусь (praprapra...didusj, great great great...grandfather).

Vietnamese

Nghiêng, with 7 letters, meaning "inclined", is the longest word in the single-syllable Vietnamese language. ^[22]

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 (to predominate (past tense - 3rd person plural))
• cyfrwngddarostynedigaeth (intercession)^[23]

See also

• Morphology (linguistics)
• Longest English sentence

References