English is a funny language. We tend to add our own rules when we aren’t sure of the correct usage and make it sound goofier. We ask each other- if the plural or “house” is “houses”, then why isn’t the plural of “mouse” “mouses”? Why is it “mice”? The vowels of our language include- a, e, I, o, u; which means we must add “an” before any word starting from one of these letters. Example- an apple, an eagle, an owl. But for the word “university” or “universe”, we don’t use the word “an” before it. Why? After all it starts from a vowel.
Top 15 Longest Words in English
1. Floccinaucinihilipilification
This word consists of 29 letters. It refers to the act or habit of describing or regarding something as valueless. Ironically, Floccinaucinihilipilification is a pretty valueless word itself ; it is almost never used except as a long word example. Who knew that?
2. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
This word consists of 34 letters. It refers to “extraordinarily good; wonderful”. In fact, as a child if you watched Mary Poppins, you would be familiar with this word. She described it as the word to use “when you have nothing to say”. It became famous for its use in a song with the same title in the film “Mary Poppins.”
3.Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoiosis
This word consists of 45 letters. It was invented to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust.
4.Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
A word of 36 letters, it refers to fear of monstrously multisyllabic words i.e fear of long words. Again an irony, as it itself is a really long word! In humorous contexts, this word is most often used. It is an extension of the word “sesquipedalophobia,” which is used more often in a formal context and has the same meaning.
5. Otorhinolaryngological
It consists of 22 letters. The word refers to- of or relating to the medical specialization involving the ear, nose and throat.
6. Spectrophotofluorometrically
This 28-letter word is used to describe the use of a spectrophotofluorometer, which measures the amount of light in a color band to trace and measure small components of a sample of blood, body tissue or other substances.
7. Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
This 58 letter word is actually a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts also known as Webster Lake. In the 1920s, Lawrence J. Daly, a reporter for The Webster Times, wrote that it was an Indian Nipmuck word meaning “You fish on your side, I fish on my side and no one fishes in the middle.”
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8. Incomprehensibilities
Finally a word we all recognize. This 21 letter adjective is related to the word “incomprehensible”, meaning something that is “impossible to comprehend/understand”. It can also describe a condition in which someone is incomprehensible (misunderstood).
9. Rhombicosidodecahedron
This 22 letter word is a 3D uniform polyhedron bounded by 20 regular triangular faces, 30 square faces, 12 regular pentagonal faces, 60 vertices and 120 edges. The term has also been used in the TV series “The Big Bang Theory”.
10. Xenodocheionology
This 17 letter word refers to a liking towards hotels and inns.
11. Zenzizenzizenzic
This 16-letter word is an obsolete form of mathematical notation, which represents the eighth power of a number (i.e. the zenzizenzic of x is x8), dating from a time when powers were written in words rather than superscripts.
12.Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism
This 30-letter word is in fact the name of a rare, painful genetic disorder that, according to the National Health Institutions, causes “short stature, round face and short hand bones” as well as the hardening of soft tissue.
13. Valetudinarianism
This 17 letter word refers to the condition or state of mind of a sickly or weak person who is incessantly worried about personal health.
14. Paraskavedekatriaphobia
This word consists of 23 letters which refers to the fear of Friday the 13th.
15. Triskaidekaphobia
Paraskavedekatriaphobia, although consisting of 17 letters, is an extension of triskaidekaphobia which refers to an extreme superstition regarding the number 13.
I posit the moment has arrived to supplement novel lexeme to your lexicon.
There are innumerable rules to be followed when using the English language. One small mistake (intentional or unintentional) and we are made fun of by everyone. We know a large variety of words to use and how to pronounce them (mostly). But have you ever wondered what some of the longest words in English are? These words will take us days to retain and pronounce correctly.
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