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. Words consisting of hundreds, or even thousands of characters have been coined. Even non-agglutinative languages may allow word formation of theoretically limitless length in certain contexts. An example common to many languages is the term for a very remote ancestor, "great-great-.....-grandfather", where the prefix "great-" may be repeated any number of times. The examples of "longest words" within the "Agglutinative languages" section may be nowhere near close to the longest possible word in said language, instead a popular example of a text-heavy word.
Systematic names of chemical compounds can run to hundreds of thousands of characters in length. The rules of creation of such names are commonly defined by international bodies, therefore they formally belong to many languages. The longest recognized systematic name is for the protein titin, at 189,819 letters.[1] While lexicographers regard generic names of chemical compounds as verbal formulae rather than words,[2] for its sheer length the systematic name for titin is often included in longest-word lists.
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.
The longest Basque toponym is Basque: Azpilicuetagaraicosaroyarenberecolarrea (40) which means "The lower field of the sheepfold (located in) the hight of Azpilicueta".[3]
Since Esperanto allows word compounding, there are no limits on how long a word can theoretically become. An example is the 39-letter word Esperanto: oranĝ-kanton-pafil-limig-aktivul-malamanto, meaning "Orange County gun control activist hater". Such clusters are not considered good style (the 8-word alternative Esperanto: oranĝkantona malamanto de aktivuloj por limigo de pafiloj is more standard), but they are permissible under the rules of Esperanto grammar.[4] Hyphens are optional in Esperanto compounds,[5] so Esperanto: {{shy|oranĝ|kanton|pafil|limig|aktivul|malamanto is also technically a valid spelling.
The longest Esperanto word roots formally recognized by the Akademio de Esperanto are 13 letters long, shown here with the added noun ending "-o":
The longest word found in the dictionary Plena Ilustrita Vortaro as of its 2020 edition is the 24-letter proper noun Esperanto: Meklenburgio-Antaŭpomerio (the German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), followed by the 21-letter word Esperanto: {{shy|proviant|administracio (rations administration).
As of April 2024 the longest word found in the Tekstaro de Esperanto text corpus is the 66-letter word Esperanto: unue-volapukista-poste-esperantista-poste-idista-poste-denove-esperantista, meaning "first-volapukist-then-esperantist-then-idist-then-again-esperantist", which was used in a review published in Monato in 1997 to describe František Lorenz.[7] However, this word does not follow normal Esperanto word formation rules. Other long words found in Tekstaro de Esperanto that follow regular word formation include:
Examples of long words that have been in everyday use in the Finnish language are Finnish: kolmivaihekilowattituntimittari which means "three-phase kilowatt hour meter" (31 letters), Finnish: liikekannallepanotarkastuskierros ("mobilization inspection round", 33 letters),[12] Finnish: peruspalveluliikelaitoskuntayhtymä ("a public utility of a municipal federation for provision of basic services", 34 letters),[13] and Finnish: lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas "airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student" (61 letters), an actual military term, although one which has been deprecated. The longest military term in current use is Finnish: vastatykistömaalinosoitustutkakalustojärjestelmäinsinöörierikoisupseeri "counter-artillery targeting radar systems engineer specialist officer" with 71 characters, with 2 more if grammatically incorrect extra hyphens added for readability are counted. 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 Finnish: kumarreksituteskenteleentuvaisehkollaismaisekkuudellisennesk- enteluttelemattomammuuksissansakaankopahan (102 letters), which was created by Artturi Kannisto.[14]
The longest non-compound (a single stem with prefixes and suffixes) Finnish word recognised by the Guinness Book of Records is Finnish: epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkäänköhänkään (see also Agglutination#Extremes), based on the stem Finnish: järki (reason, sanity), and it means: "I wonder if – even with his/her quality of not having been made unsystematized".
Finnish: [[Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä]] and a defunct bar named after it, Finnish: Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsi-baari, are the longest place names in use.
The longest word in Greenlandic is Kalaallisut; Greenlandic: Nalunaarasuartaateeraaranngualioqatigiiffissualioriataallaqqissupilorujussuanngortartuinnakasinngortinniamisa alinnguatsiaraluallaqqooqigaminngamiaasiinngooq, which has 156 letters. The rough translation of this word is: "There were reports that they apparently – God knows for how many times – once again had considered whatever I, my poor condition despite, still could be considered to be quite adept and resourceful as initiator to put a consortium together for the establishment of a range of tiny radio stations."[15] The word is a tongue twister that forms an entire sentence, rather than being a word or phrase commonly heard in Greenland.[15]
Kalaallisut; Greenlandic: Inuussutissarsiorsinnaajunnaarnersiutilik, consisting of 41 letters, is the longest singular word in the Greenlandic dictionary.[15]
Hungarian: Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért, with 44 letters, is the longest word in the Hungarian language, and approximately means "for your [plural] continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated". It is already morphed, since Hungarian is an agglutinative language.
The Hungarian language has many causes for writing words together, but there are a few rules for avoiding undisciplined length, resulting in unreadability.
Words with less than six syllables can be written in one. Agglutinated words have to be separated by one dash, if they are more than six syllables altogether. If there are more than two words that are already written with a dash and more are needed, a new dash must be used to add it (like Hungarian: C-vitamin-adagolás, meaning "Vitamin C rationing"). If there would be two long words to be written, they are advised to be used separately (possible: Hungarian: békeszerződéstervezet-kidolgozás meaning "peace agreement plan elaboration", but advised rather Hungarian: a békeszerződés tervezetének kidolgozása meaning "the elaboration of the plan of the peace agreement").[16]
The longest dictionary form word is the word Hungarian: megszentségtelenített, with 21 characters (although it ultimately derives from the word Hungarian: szent meaning: "saint" or "sacred"), and it means "desecrated" or "profaned".[17]
Indonesian belongs to the Austronesian language family. According from Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, the longest word in the language is Indonesian: mempertanggungjawabkan, which is 22 letters long, meaning "take responsibility" in English, as well as Indonesian: heksakosioiheksekontaheksafobia, a 30-letter-long word meaning "hexacosioihexecontahexaphobia" in English.[18]
There is some disagreement about what is the longest word in the Korean language, which arises from a misunderstanding of the Korean language. All of these examples below contain spaces in Hangul and do not qualify as a single word.
The longest word appearing in the Standard Korean Dictionary published by the National Institute of the Korean Language is Korean: 청자 양인각 연당초상감 모란 문은구 대접 (Korean: 靑瓷陽印刻蓮唐草象嵌牡丹文銀釦대접); Revised Romanization:, 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.[19] [20] However, to call this a word would be incorrect. It simply consists of many words that act as adjectives for the one word Korean: 대접.
The word Korean: 니코틴아마이드 아데닌 다이뉴클레오타이드, a phonetic transcription of "nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide", has a larger number of syllable blocks (19) but a smaller number of letters (41). It does not qualify as a single word.
In proper nouns, many Korean monarchs have overly 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 Korean: 순조 선각 연덕현도 경인순희 체성응명흠광석경계천배극융원돈휴의행소윤희화준렬대중지정 홍훈철 모건시태형창 운홍기고명박후강건수정계통수력 공유범문안무정영경 성효대왕 . This is simply writing the phrase in Hanja (Hanzi) Korean: 純祖先覺淵德顯道景仁純禧體聖凝命欽光錫慶繼天配極隆元敦休懿行昭倫熙化峻烈大中至正洪勳哲謨乾始泰亨昌運弘基高明博厚剛健粹精啓統垂曆建功裕範文安武靖英敬成孝肅皇帝, being transliterate in Hangul. It is not a single word and does not qualify as a lexical entry.
Malay, just like Indonesian, is an agglutinative language (at least in the formal language) and it belongs to the Austronesian language family. The longest word in Malay is Malay: mempertanggungjawabkan, which is 22 letters long, meaning "take responsibility" in English.
A popular example of the longest suffixed word in Mongolian is "Mongolian: Цахилгаанжуулалтыхантайгаа" which is 26 letters long. Here is a table showing, with translations, which suffixes are added.
| Word | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
| Mongolian: Цахилгаан | electricity (power) | |
| Mongolian: ЦахилгаанMongolian: жуул | electrify | |
| Mongolian: ЦахилгаанжуулMongolian: алт | electrification | |
| Mongolian: ЦахилгаанжуулалтMongolian: ын | electrifications | |
| Mongolian: ЦахилгаанжуулалтыMongolian: хан | electricians | |
| Mongolian: ЦахилгаанжуулалтыханMongolian: тай | with electricians | |
| Mongolian: ЦахилгаанжуулалтыхантайMongolian: гаа | do (action) with electricians |
The longest word in the Ojibwe language is Ojibwa: miinibaashkiminasiganibiitoosijiganibadagwiingweshiganibakwezhigan (66 letters), meaning "blueberry pie". This literally translates to "blueberry cooked to jellied preserve that lies in layers in which the face is covered in bread".[21]
Tagalog can make long words by adding on affixes, suffixes, and other root words with a connector.
The longest published word in the language is Tagalog: pinakanakakapagngitngitngitngitang-pagsisinungasinungalingan, with 59 letters. This compound word means "to keep making up a lie that causes the most extreme anger while pretending you are not."[22]
See main article: article and Longest word in Turkish. Turkish, an agglutinative language, carries the potential for words of arbitrary length.
Turkish: Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine, at 70 letters, has been cited as the longest Turkish word. It was used in a contrived story designed to use this word.[23] [24] The word means "As if you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones" and its usage was illustrated as follows:
Turkish: Kötü amaçların güdüldüğü bir öğretmen okulundayız. Yetiştirilen öğretmenlere öğrencileri nasıl Turkish: muvaffakiyetsizleştirTurkish: ecekleri öğretiliyor. Yani öğretmenler birer Turkish: muvaffakiyetsizleştirici Turkish: olarak yetiştiriliyorlar. Fakat öğretmenlerden biri Turkish: muvaffakiyetsizleştirici Turkish: olmayı, yani Turkish: muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştirilmeTurkish: yi reddediyor, bu konuda ileri geri konuşuyor. Bütün öğretmenleri kolayca Turkish: muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriverebileceğTurkish: ini sanan okul müdürü bu duruma sinirleniyor, ve söz konusu öğretmeni makamına çağırıp ona diyor ki: Turkish: Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine Turkish: laflar ediyormuşsunuz ha?<br /><br />We are in a teachers' training school that has evil purposes. The teachers who are being educated in that school are being taught how to make unsuccessful ones from students. So, one by one, teachers are being educated as makers of unsuccessful ones. However, one of those teachers refuses to be maker of unsuccessful ones, in other words, to be made a maker of unsuccessful ones; he talks about and criticizes the school's stand on the issue. The headmaster who thinks every teacher can be made easily/quickly into a maker of unsuccessful ones gets angry. He invites the teacher to his room and says "You are talking as if you were one of those we can not easily/quickly turn into a maker of unsuccessful ones, huh?"
Other well-known very long Turkish words are:[25]
| Turkish | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Turkish: Muvaffak | Successful | |
| Turkish: Muvaffakiyet | Success | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetTurkish: siz | Unsuccessful (without success') | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizTurkish: leş(Turkish: -mek) | (To) become unsuccessful | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleşTurkish: tir(Turkish: -mek) | (To) make one unsuccessful | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiriTurkish: ci | Maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiriciTurkish: leş(Turkish: -mek) | (To) become a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileşTurkish: tir(Turkish: -mek) | (To) make one a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriTurkish: ver(-) | (To) easily/quickly make one a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştirivereTurkish: bil(Turkish: -mek) | (To) be able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştirivereTurkish: meyeTurkish: bil(Turkish: -mek) | To be able to not make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilTurkish: ecek | One who is not able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilecekTurkish: ler | Those who are not able to make one easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebilecekleriTurkish: miz | Those whom we cannot make easily/quickly a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizTurkish: den | From those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenTurkish: miş | (Would be) from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişTurkish: siniz | You would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones | |
| Turkish: MuvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizTurkish: cesine | As if you would be from those we can not easily/quickly make a maker of unsuccessful ones |
Afrikaans, as it is a 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[26] Afrikaans: {{shy|Tweedehandse|motor|verkoops|manne|vakbond|stakings|vergadering|sameroepers|toespraak|skrywers|pers|verklaring|uitreikings|media|konferensie|aankondiging (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.
Currently, the longest word in Arabic is the 16-letter-long word Arabic: أَفَإِستَسقَينَاكُمُوهما.[27] Which means "Did we ask you to let us drink it?" However, according to some online sources the 20-letter-long word Arabic: أَفَيَسْتَكْتِبونَكُمانيهِما is the longest word in Arabic meaning "Are they forcing you to write both of them?". Regardless, official sources supporting such a stance cannot be found.
The Bulgarian online etymological dictionary claims that longest word in Bulgarian to be the 39-letter-long Bulgarian: непротивоконституционствувателствувайте, introduced in the Constitution of Bulgaria of 1947 (Dimitrov Constitution).[28] The word means "do not perform actions against the constitution" (addressed to more than one person).
The longest word in Catalan is considered to be Catalan; Valencian: Anticonstitucionalment, an adverb meaning "[done in a way that is] against the constitution", however, the scientific word Catalan; Valencian: Psiconeuroimmunoendocrinologia, related to endocrinology, has been proposed by the University of Barcelona to be the true longest word.[29]
The longest known word in Croatian is Croatian: prijestolonasljednikovičičinima,[30] meaning "to those who belong to the throne successor's little wife." The 30-letter word ("lj" is considered as one letter in Croatian) is the dative case of Croatian: prijestolonasljednikovičica "the throne successor's little wife" which is the diminutive of Croatian: prijestolonasljednikovica "the throne successor's wife."
Traditionally, the word Czech: nejneobhospodařovávatelnějšími ("of the least cultivable", 28 letters) 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").
Danish, like many Germanic languages, is capable of compounding words to create ad hoc compounds of potentially limitless length. Nevertheless, the constructed word Danish: {{shy|special|læge|praksis|planlægnings|stabiliserings|periode – which means "a period of stabilising the planning of a specialist doctor's practice" – was cited in 1993 by the Danish version of the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest word in the Danish language at 51 letters long. It is however not possible (using Google) to find a text, which actually uses this word, except for in the context of discussing the longest Danish word.
Dutch, like many Germanic languages, is capable of forming compounds of potentially limitless length. The 53-letter word Dutch; Flemish: {{shy|Kinder|carnavals|optocht|voorbereidings|werkzaamheden|plan, 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.[31]
The longest word in the authoritative Van Dale Dutch dictionary (2009 edition) in plural form is Dutch; Flemish: {{shy|meervoudige|persoonlijkheids|stoornissen;[32] 38 letters long, meaning "multiple personality disorders". The entry in the dictionary however is in the singular, counting 35 letters.
The free Dutch; Flemish: OpenTaal dictionary,[33] 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:
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 Dutch; Flemish: {{shy|Hottentotten|soldaten|tenten|tentoonstellings|bouwterrein ("construction ground for the Hottentot soldiers' tents exhibition"); counting 53 letters.
See main article: article and Longest word in English.
The 45-letter word is the longest English word that appears in a major dictionary.[34] Originally coined to become a candidate for the longest word in English, the term eventually developed some independent use in medicine.[35] It is referred to as "P45" by researchers.[36]
The 30-letter word pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism refers to an inherited disorder,[37] named for its similarity to pseudohypoparathyroidism in presentation, which is in turn named for its similarity to hypoparathyroidism. This is the longest word that was not contrived with the sole intention of becoming the longest word.[38]
, 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 Oxford Dictionaries of the English language.
, at 28 letters, is the longest non-coined, non-systematic English word in Oxford Dictionaries.[39] It refers to a 19th-century political movement that opposed the disestablishment of the Church of England as the state church of England.
See main article: Longest word in French. The longest word, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobie (36 letters) is the fear (or phobia) of long words. The word is formed from the Latin word sesquipedalia (singular sesquipedalis), which the Ancient Roman poet Horace used in Ars Poetica to describe excessively long words; literally, it means "a foot-and-a-half long".
Like the other phobias in the list, can be pluralised by adding the letter s to the end. The adjective interdépartemental (18 letters), which also appears in the list, can be made longer by appending the letters es, which gives its plural, grammatically gendered form.
In German, whole numbers (smaller than 1 million) can be expressed as single words, which makes German: {{shy|sieben|hundert|sieben|und|siebzig|tausend|sieben|hundert|sieben|und|siebzig (777,777) a 65 letter word. In combination with German: -malig or, as an inflected noun, German: (des …) -maligen, all numbers can be written as one word. A 79 letter word, German: [[Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft|{{shy|Donau|dampf|schiffahrts|elektrizitäten|haupt|betriebs|werk|bau|unter|beamten|gesellschaft, 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 German: [[Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft|{{shy|Donau|dampf|schiffahrts|gesellschaft, "Danube steam boat operation company".
The longest word that is not created artificially as a longest-word record seems to be German: [[Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz|{{shy|Rindfleisch|etikettierungs|überwachungs|aufgaben|übertragungs|gesetz 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".[40]
In December 2016 the 51-letter word German: [[Bundespräsidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung|{{shy|Bundes|präsidenten|stichwahl|wiederholungs|verschiebung ("deferral of the second iteration of the federal presidential run-off election") was elected the Austrian Word of the Year 2016.[41] 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."[42]
The tongue twister German: Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier gave rise to the novelty song Barbara's Rhubarb Bar (Barbaras Rhabarberbar), which became a viral phenomenon in 2024.[43] [44]
In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC), Aristophanes coined the 182-letter word Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: [[Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon|{{shy|λοπαδο|τεμαχο|σελαχο|γαλεο|κρανιο|λειψανο|δριμ|υπο|τριμματο|σιλφιο|καραβο|μελιτο|κατακεχυ|μενο|κιχλ|επι|κοσσυφο|φαττο|περιστερ|αλεκτρυον|οπτο|κεφαλλιο|κιγκλο|πελειο|λαγῳο|σιραιο|βαφη|τραγανο|πτερύγων (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: {{shy|Lopado|temacho|selacho|galeo|kranio|leipsano|drim|hypo|trimmato|silphio|karabo|melito|katakechy|meno|kichl|epi|kossypho|phatto|perister|alektryon|opte|kephallio|kigklo|peleio|lagoio|siraio|baphe|tragano|pterygon), 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.[45] A modern Greek word of 22 letters is Greek, Modern (1453-);: ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογράφημα (gen. Greek, Modern (1453-);: ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογραφήματος, 25 letters) meaning "electroencephalogram".
See main article: article. The longest Hebrew word is the 19-letter-long (including vowels) Hebrew: וכשלאנציקלופדיותינו, which means "And when to our encyclopedias..." The Hebrew word Hebrew: אנציקלופדיה (encyclopedia) is of a European origin.
The longest word in Hebrew that doesn't originate from another language is Hebrew: וכשלהתמרמרויותינו, which crudely means "And when, to our resentments/ grievances"
The 11-letter-long (including vowels) Hebrew: וְהָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים is the longest word to appear in the Hebrew Bible. – Its meaning is "And the satraps". It also does not originate from Hebrew.
Other very long Hebrew words include:
Hindi has a finite list of compound words which are based on established grammatical rules of the language. The word commonly cited as the longest in Hindi is Hindi: लौहपथगामिनीसूचकदर्शकहरितताम्रलौहपट्टिका, which consists of 24 consonants and 10 vowel diacritics, making up a total of 34 characters. The word literally means "a green railway warning signboard made of copper-iron". Its plural would be Hindi: लौहपथगामिनीसूचकदर्शकहरितताम्रलौहपट्टिकाएँ, which has an additional vowel and a diacritic. It is a neologism and not in common use. However this word is a direct loan word or borrowing from Sanskrit rather than a Hindi word.[46]
A much smaller word borrowed from Sanskrit which is in common use and is also often cited as the longest word is Hindi: किंकर्तव्यविमूढ़ . It consists of 8 consonants and 5 vowel diacritics, making up a total of 13 characters. The word literally means "confused about what to do", meaning to be bewildered or flabbergasted.
Icelandic has the ability to form compounds of arbitrary length by stringing together genitives (Icelandic: eignarfallssamsetning), so no single words of maximal length exist in the language. However, Icelandic: vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúr and Icelandic: vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur are sometimes cited as particularly long words;[47] the latter 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 Icelandic: Alþjóðaflutningaverkamannasambandsins ("of the International Transport Workers' Federation"; 37 letters) and Icelandic: Norðvestur-Atlantshafsfiskveiðistofnunarinnar ("of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries' Organization"; 45 letters) as the longest unhyphenated and hyphenated words.[48]
The longest word occurring at least twice in the University of Leipzig isl-is_web_2015 corpus is Icelandic: Auðmannastjórnvaldaembættisstjórnmálaverkalýðsverðlausraverðbréfaábyrgðarlausrakvóta-ræningjaaftaníossaspilling (110 letters).[49]
The longest non-compound word in Irish is Irish: grianghrafadóireacht, a 20-letter-long word meaning "photography".[50]
The longest word in Italian is traditionally Italian: precipitevolissimevolmente, which is a 26-letter-long adverb.[51] It is formed by subsequent addition of postfixes to the original root:
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:The word technically violates Italian grammar rules, the correct form being Italian: 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:
The longest accepted neologism is Italian: psiconeuroendocrinoimmunologia (30 letters)..
Other long words are:
Láadan is not agglutinating as there is no mechanism to combine arbitrary words into one without intermediating grammatical mechanisms (such as the); however, there are a number of affixes that further elucidate the contextual meaning of a word. These are ignored when determining the longest words in the language. The primary reference for vocabulary is the 3rd edition of the official dictionary and grammar.
The longest attested word in Classical Latin is Latin: subductisupercilicarptor, which was coined by the obscure poet Laevius in the 1st century. In Medieval Latin, the longest known word is Latin: [[honorificabilitudinitatibus|honorificabilitudinitas]], which was first attested in a treatise written by the 8th century Grammarian Peter of Pisa. One can further increase the length of the words by adding the dative plural case to them, which would result in the words Latin: subductisupercilicarptoribus and Latin: honorificabilitudinitatibus respectively.
The longest Lithuanian word is 40 letters long:
The Māori-language 85-letter place name Maori: [[Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu|{{shy|Taumata|whakatangihanga|koauau|o|tamatea|turi|pukaka|piki|maunga|horo|nuku|pokai|whenua|ki|tana|tahu is the longest place name in English-speaking countries and second longest in the world, according to Wises New Zealand Guide and The New Zealand Herald.[57]
Very long Polish words can be created as adjectives from numerals and nouns. For example, Polish: Dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcionarodowościowego, 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:
Polish: Dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćmiliardówdziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćmilionów-dziewięćsetdziewięćdziesiątdziewięćtysięcydziewięćsetdziewięćdziesięciodziewięcioletniego (176 letters, meaning "of 999,999,999,999 years old").
One of the longest common words is 31-letter Polish: dziewięćdziesięciokilkuletniemu – the dative singular form of "ninety-and-some years old one". Another known long word is Polish: konstantynopolitańczykowianeczka (32 letters), "a daughter of a man who lives in Constantinople" and Polish: pięćdziesięciogroszówka (23 letters), "a 50 groszy coin".[58]
See main article: Longest word in Romanian. The longest Romanian word is Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioză, with 44 letters,[59] but the longest one admitted by the Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române]] ("Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language", DEX) is Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: electroglotospectrografie, with 25 letters.[60] [61]
Most likely one of the longest Russian words is a chemical term, Russian: {{shy|тетра|гидро|пиранил|цикло|пентил|тетра|гидро|пиридо|пириди|новая, which contains 55 letters. It was used in Russian patent RU2285004C2 (granted and published in 2006). This word is an adjective that can describe e.g. a chemical formula. As a noun, it is without the last 4 letters.
Another one is Russian: {{shy|превысоко|много|рассмотрительствующий, which contains 35 letters. It is an adjective in the bureaucratic language of the 19th century "meaning a very polite form of addressing clerks, something like Your Excellency, Your Highness, Your Majesty all together" (Guinness World Records 2003). Its dative singular form, Russian: {{shy|превысоко|много|рассмотрительствующему (with 36 letters) can be an example of excessively official vocabulary of the 19th century.
Numeral compounds can be long as well, such as Russian: {{shy|Тысячево|сьмисот|восьми|десяти|девяти|микро|метровый, which is an adjective containing 46 letters, meaning "1889-micrometers long".[62]
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):
Sanskrit: निरन्तरान्धकारितदिगन्तरकन्दलदमन्दसुधारसबिन्दुसान्द्रतरघनाघनवृन्द-सन्देहकरस्यन्दमानमकरन्दबिन्दुबन्धुरतरमाकन्दतरुकुलतल्पकल्पमृ-दुळसिकताजालजटिलमूलतलमरुवकमिलदलघुलघुलयकलितरमणीय-पानीयशालिकाबालिकाकरारविन्दगलन्तिकागलदेलालवङ्गपाटलघनसा-रकस्तूरिकातिसौरभमेदुरलघुतरमधुरशीतलतरसलिलधारानिराकरिष्णुत-दीयविमलविलोचनमयूखरेखापसारितपिपासायासपथिकलोकान्
In IAST transliteration:
from the Varadāmbikā Pariṇaya Campū by Tirumalāmbā,[63] composed of 195 Sanskrit letters (428 letters in the roman transliteration, dashes excluded), thus making it the longest word ever to appear in worldwide literature.[64] [65]
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."
Traditionally, the word Slovak: najneobhospodarovávateľnejšieho ("of the least cultivable", 31 letters) 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).[66] [67]
Artificial words, lexically valid but never used in language:
Artificial words using Slovak towns or places, lexically valid but never used in language:
Numerals:
See main article: article and Longest word in Spanish. The longest word in Spanish is Spanish; Castilian: esternocleidomastoideitis (inflammation of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, 30 letters).[71] Runners-up are Spanish; Castilian: anticonstitucionalmente ([proceeding in a manner that is] contrary to the constitution (anticonstitutionally)) and Spanish; Castilian: electroencefalografistas (specialists that do electrical scans on brains (electroencephalographists)), both 23 letters.
The word Spanish; Castilian: 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 Spanish; Castilian: anticonstitucionalísimamente (i.e.: "very strongly against the constitution"). Some dictionaries (but not the RAE dictionary[72]) removed its root word (Spanish; Castilian: anticonstitucional) in 2005, causing comments about it not "being a valid word anymore" and suggesting the use of Spanish; Castilian: inconstitucional as a replacement.
Swedish: Realisationsvinstbeskattning (28 letters) is the longest word in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista. It means "capital gains taxation", and is usually shortened to Swedish: Reavinstskatt (same meaning).However, Swedish grammar makes it possible to create arbitrarily long words. One such word is Swedish: Spårvagnsaktiebolagsskensmutsskjutarefackföreningspersonalbeklädnadsmagasinsförråd-sförvaltarens (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".[73]
The longest word in Toki Pona is {{shy|kijete|san|takalu (15 letters), which was proposed in 2009 as an April Fools' joke by the language's creator Sonja Lang as a word for any animal of the Procyonidae family, which includes raccoons and related species.[74] The word has since entered into common use, and it has become common to define {{shy|kijete|san|takalu more broadly as any animal from the Musteloidea superfamily.[75] [76] In 2019 James Flear designed a glyph for {{shy|kijete|san|takalu in Toki Pona's Sitelen Pona writing system, which has become a popular icon within the Toki Pona community.[77]
As a minimalistic isolating constructed language, most words in Toki Pona are much shorter, the median being 4 letters. The longest words featured in the 2014 book Toki Pona: The Language of Good, Lang's first official Toki Pona publication, are the 7-letter words kepeken ("to use, by means of") and sitelen ("symbol, picture"). The list of proposed country names in the same book also mentions ma {{shy|Papuwa|nijukini ("Papua New Guinea"), which includes a 14-letter proper adjective.[78]
Vietnamese is an isolating language, which naturally limits the length of a morpheme. The longest, at seven letters, is, which means "inclined" or "to lean".[79] This is the longest word that can be written without a space. However, not all words in Vietnamese are single morphemes. Indeed, Vietnamese: nghiêng can be reduplicated as .
The written language abounds with compound words in which each constituent word is delimited by spaces, just like any freestanding word. Moreover, the grammar lacks inflection to mark parts of speech, and prepositions are often optional. Therefore, the boundary between a word and a phrase is poorly defined.[80] Examples of this ambiguity include:
Unlike locally coined compound words, compound words in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary are less ambiguous, because of the use of premodifiers (as in English) as opposed to the native postmodifiers. Long Sino-Vietnamese words include ("encyclopedia") and ("hydrodynamics").
Loanwords and pronunciation respellings from other languages can also result in long words. For example, "consortium" is (12 letters), and "Indonesia" may be left as-is or spelled (13 counting hyphens).[81] The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Vietnam systematically respells foreign names, introducing long names into an official Vietnamese lexicon:
Long initialisms in Vietnamese include:
In modern Vietnamese, compound words can be identified fairly easily within title cased text: a morpheme that begins with a capital letter followed by one or more morphemes that begin with a lowercase letter. For example, ("socialism") is capitalized as one component within Vietnamese: Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam.
Welsh: [[Llanfairpwllgwyngyll|{{shy|Llanfair|pwllgwyngyll|gogery|chwyrn|drobwll|llan|tysilio|gogo|goch, 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 Welsh: ll and Welsh: 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 Welsh: dd is also treated as a single letter, as is Welsh: ng in many instances including in the last word below):