Talk:Longest word in English

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Longest word in English article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3: 3 months

Longest word in English is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 9, 2005	Featured article candidate	Not promoted

English Language High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject English Language, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to the English language on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.English LanguageWikipedia:WikiProject English LanguageTemplate:WikiProject English LanguageEnglish Language articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale.

Lists Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lists, an attempt to structure and organize all list pages on Wikipedia. If you wish to help, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.ListsWikipedia:WikiProject ListsTemplate:WikiProject ListsList articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Spoken Wikipedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles that are spoken on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Spoken WikipediaWikipedia:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaTemplate:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaSpoken Wikipedia articles

This has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Megan Gibson (2011-01-14). "Wikipedia's 10th Anniversary: 10 Unforgettable Entries". TIME. Retrieved 2010-01-15. Though it's a contested choice, the longest word in the English language is 189,819 letters long...
Alexis Kleinman, Maxwell Strachan (14 January 2015). "The 49 Most Entertaining Wikipedia Entries Ever Created". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 March 2015.

electroencephalographically

According to Merriam-Webster, electroencephalographically is the longest word. (27 letters)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/no-antidisestablishmentarianism-is-not-in-the-dictionary/

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a string of Latin terms that together describe an inflammatory lung disease caused by long-term inhalation of silica dust. While the word is made up, the disease is real, and it's known under the names pneumoconiosis, silicosis, or black lung in the UK. 210.1.127.194 (talk) 03:49, 27 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The wikipedia page for pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis states that it is not silicosis or black lung, but a subset of it. The page here is misleading. 172.58.109.40 (talk) 05:29, 22 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl...isoleucine

This is word is my new favorite. Hinkik123 (talk) 16:14, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Why isn't hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia here? It's the fear of long words (what sick idiot made this up) and has 36 letters. TJPowerspeed75 (talk) 17:46, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Because someone literally just made it up as a joke and it's not a real word in any actual dictionary. Reywas92^Talk 18:11, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

They didn't do a very good job of making it up, either, since "hippo" is from the Greek meaning "horse" not "really large animal". There are been a dozen, maybe more, efforts to add this word to this article over the years; mostly from anon accounts. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 19:01, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, but there's a Wikipedia article already about this topic. TJPowerspeed75 (talk) 21:22, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's in wiktionary - which is why we don't use that as a reference. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 23:40, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]