Antidisestablishmentarianism, everyone’s favorite agglutinative, entered the pop culture lexicon on August 17, 1955, when Gloria Lockerman, a 12-year-old girl from Baltimore, correctly spelled it on The $64,000 Questionas millions of people watched from their living rooms. At 28 letters, the word—which is defined as a 19th-century British political movement that opposes proposals for the disestablishment of the Church of England—is still regarded as the longest non-medical, non-coined, nontechnical word in the English language, yet it keeps some robust company. Here are some examples of the longest words by category.

1. METHIONYLTHREONYLTHREONYGLUTAMINYLARGINYL … ISOLEUCINE 

Note the ellipses. All told, the full chemical name for the human protein titin is 189,819 letters, and takes about three-and-a-half hours to pronounce. The problem with including chemical names is that there’s essentially no limit to how long they can be. For example, naming a single strand of DNA, with its millions and millions of repeating base pairs, could eventually tab out at well over 1 billion letters.

2. LOPADOTEMACHOSELACHOGALEOKRANIOLEIPSAN …P TERYGON

The longest word ever to appear in literature comes from Aristophanes’ play, Assemblywomen, published in 391 BC. The Greek word tallies 171 letters, but translates to 183 in English. This mouthful refers to a fictional fricassee comprised of rotted dogfish head, wrasse, wood pigeon, and the roasted head of a dabchick, among other culinary morsels. 

3. PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS

At 45 letters, this is the longest word you’ll find in a major dictionary. An inflated version of silicosis, this is the full scientific name for a disease that causes inflammation in the lungs owing to the inhalation of very fine silica dust. Despite its inclusion in the dictionary, it’s generally considered superfluous, having been coined simply to claim the title of the longest English word.

4. PARASTRATIOSPHECOMYIA STRATIOSPHECOMYIOIDES 

The longest accepted binomial construction, at 42 letters, is a species of soldier fly native to Thailand. With a lifespan of five to eight days, it’s unlikely one has ever survived long enough to hear it pronounced correctly.

5. PSEUDOPSEUDOHYPOPARATHYROIDISM

This 30-letter thyroid disorder is the longest non-coined word to appear in a major dictionary.

6. FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION

By virtue of having one more letter than antidisestablishmentarianism, this is the longest non-technical English word. A mash-up of five Latin roots, it refers to the act of describing something as having little or no value. While it made the cut in the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster volumes refuse to recognize it, chalking up its existence to little more than linguistic ephemera.

7. SUBDERMATOGLYPHIC

At 17 characters, this is the longest accepted isogram, a word in which every letter is used only once, and refers to the underlying dermal matrix that determines the pattern formed by the whorls, arches, and ridges of our fingerprints. 

8. SQUIRRELLED

Though the more commonly accepted American English version carries only one L, both Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries recognize this alternate spelling and condone its one syllable pronunciation (think “world”), making it the longest non-coined monosyllabic English word at 11 letters.

9. ABSTENTIOUS

One who doesn’t indulge in excesses, especially food and drink; at 11 letters this is the longest word to use all five vowels in order exactly once.

10. ROTAVATOR 

A type of soil tiller, the longest non-coined palindromic word included in an English dictionary tallies nine letters. Detartrated, 11 letters, appears in some chemical glossaries, but is generally considered too arcane to qualify.

11. and 12. CWTCH, EUOUAE

The longest words to appear in a major dictionary comprised entirely of either vowels or consonants. A Cwtch, or crwth, is from the Welsh word for a hiding place. Euouae, a medieval musical term, is technically a mnemonic, but has been accepted as a word in itself.


01
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Antidisestablishmentarianism

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England
Origins: While the word originated in 19th century Britain, it is now used to refer to any opposition to a government withdrawing support from a religious organization. Though rarely used in casual conversation, the word was featured in the Duke Ellington song, “You’re Just an Old Antidisestablishmentarianist.”  
02
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Floccinaucinihilipilification

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: the act of defining or estimating something as worthless
Origins: This word stems from the combination of four Latin words, all of which signify that something has little value: flocci, nauci, nihili, pilifi. This style of word creation was popular in Britain in the 1700s. 
03
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Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: an invented word said to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling a fine dust
Origins: This word emerged in the late 1930s, and was said to be invented by Everett K. Smith, president of the National Puzzlers’ League, in an imitation of very long medical terms. It is not found in real medical usage.
04
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Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: an inherited disorder similar to pseudohypoparathyroidism
Origins: This genetic disorder causes “short stature, round face and short hand bones,” according to the National Institutes of Health. Despite having a similar name, it is not the same as pseudohypoparathyroidism.
05
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Psychoneuroendocrinological

Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: of or related to to the branch of science concerned with the relationships between psychology, the nervous system, and the endocrine system 
Origins: This term was first seen in the 1970s in Journal of Neurological Science, a medical journal. 
06
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Sesquipedalian

Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: having many syllables or characterized by the use of long words
Origins: The Roman poet Horace used this term to caution young poets against relying on words that used a large number of letters. It was adopted in the 17th century by poets to ridicule their peers who used lengthy words.
07
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Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: fear of long words
Fun Fact: This word is most often used in humorous contexts. It is an extension of the word sesquipedalophobia, which has the same meaning and is more often used in a formal context.  
08
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Incomprehensibilities

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: things that are impossible to understand or comprehend
Fun Fact: In the 1990s, this word was named the longest word in common usage.
09
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Uncopyrightable

Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: not able or allowed to be protected by copyright
Fun Fact: This word is one of the longest isograms (a word that does not repeat letters) in the English language.
10
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Dermatoglyphics

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: the scientific study of hands, including fingerprints, lines, mounts, and shapes
Fun Fact: Unlike palmistry, this study is based in science and is often used in criminology as a way to identify both perpetrators and victims.
11
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Euouae

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: a type of cadence in medieval music
Fun Fact: While this word might not look as impressive as others on this list, it’s the longest word in the English language to be composed entirely of vowels. (It's also the word with the longest string of vowels.)
12
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Psychophysicotherapeutics

Part of Speech: noun
Definition: a therapeutic approach that integrates both the mind and body
Fun Fact: While the Oxford Dictionary does not provide an official definition of this word, it is included on their list of the longest words in the English language. 
13
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Otorhinolaryngological

Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: of or relating to the medical specialization involving the ear, nose, and throat
Fun Fact: This medical specialization is more commonly known by its acronym, ENT. 

WordLettersCharacteristicsDispute
Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanyl...isoleucine189,819Chemical name of titin, the largest known proteinTechnical; not in dictionary; whether this is a word is disputed
Methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl...serine1,909Chemical name of E. coli TrpA (P0A877); longest published word[1]Technical
Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsano...pterygon182Longest word coined by a major author,[2] the longest word ever to appear in literature[3]Contrived nonce word; not in dictionary; Ancient Greektransliteration
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis45Longest word in a major dictionary[4]Technical; contrived coinage to make it the longest word
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious34Made popular in the Mary Poppins film and musicalContrived coinage
Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism30Longest non-contrived word in a major dictionary[5]Technical
Floccinaucinihilipilification29Longest unchallenged nontechnical wordContrived coinage
Antidisestablishmentarianism28Longest non-contrived and nontechnical word[6]Not all dictionaries accept it due to lack of usage.[7]
Honorificabilitudinitatibus27Longest word in Shakespeare's works; longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels[8]Latin
They are osteosarchaematosplanchnochondroneuromuelous (44 letters) and osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary (51 letters) which translate roughly as of bone, flesh, blood, organs, gristle, nerve and marrow.  HUMAN ANATOMY