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ESQUIRE, RUSSIA (CW39) – If someone says they’d like to have a word with you, make sure it’s not this one! It’s the longest word in English and if you want to read it, here’s a look. A word of warning… the “word” takes about 3.5 hours to say.
The word is 189,819 letters long. It’s actually the name of a giant protein called Titin. Proteins are usually named by mashing-up the names of the chemicals making them. And since Titin is the largest protein ever discovered, its name had to be equally as large.
If you’re interested in something ‘shorter,’ here are several more $10 words to wrap your mind around.
1. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)
Pneumoconiosis comes after you inhale very fine silicate or quartz dust.
2. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters)
Have a fear of long words? That’s called: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia and it’s one of the longest words in the dictionary.
3. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters)
Perhaps the most fun word of all, is the word made popular by the film Mary Poppins. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
4. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters)
Pseudohypoparathyroidism is characterized by normal levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood.
5. Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)
The longest unchallenged nontechnical word that not all directories recognize, is floccinaucinihilipilification – the act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant, of having no value or being worthless. Often times, it is used in good humor.
Here are more of the longest words out there and how to say them!
