Re: [nukkad] longest word in English Language

[Harshal Chhaya <>]

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Vishal,


> The word is: Pneumonoultramicroscopicvolcanicsilicokontesis

Many dictionaries spell this as 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis'
i.e. 'silico' and 'volcano' are exchanged and the last few syllables are
different.

But according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the longest word is: 
Floccipoccinihilipilification  (29 letters). 

It is pronounced: flox-ee-pox-ee-ni-hi-li-pi-li-fi-cay-shun. 
and means "the act of rendering as useless."

I remembered this as the longest English word and so looked up why
my longest word is shorter than your longest word.

It seems that the Guiness Book of World Records does not recognise
'your' word probably because this falls under the 'made up word' category.

According to http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/longestword:

  "Some editions of the Guinness Book of Records mention 
   praetertranssubstantiationalistically (37 letters), used in 
   Mark McShane's Untimely Ripped (1963), and 
   aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic (52 letters), 
   attributed to Dr Edward Strother (1675-1737). "

BTW, http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/ has
some very interesting questions about English words.

- 'shal


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