I love the German word verbesserungsbedürftig, meaning in need of improvement. I’m not German, but thought this was a cracking word.
The longest officially used German word was:
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
(63 letters)
Translation:
“Beef labeling monitoring delegation law”
This was the name of a law in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It referred to the delegation of tasks related to monitoring beef labeling, especially relevant during the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis. The law was abolished in 2013.
But German allows theoretically endless compound words. A classic (but not officially used) example is:
Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
(80 letters)
Translation:
“Association of subordinate officials of the main building for electrical services of the Danube steamship company”
This is a joke word created to illustrate how German compounds work. It’s not used in real life, but it’s popular in linguistic discussions and trivia.
Dutch can do the same. You can just keep slapping words together. It never ends.
It’s funny how the translation almost always goes back to front
I remember hearing a story of a UN or EU real-time translator working German to English suddenly stopping, the English listeners looking a bit confused, and after another 15 or 20 seconds of hearing the German speaker continue with still no translation, just heard a whispered “the verb, dammit, the verb!” through their headsets.
Supercalifragilistichespiralidoso
Theoretically you can make infinitely long words in German.
Anglophonenwortkompositafaszinationsbelustigungsbauchschmerzmittelrezeptdruckerhersteller. Manufacturer of printers for prescriptions for painkillers for belly pain caused by amusement at anglophones’ fascination with word compounds.
Same in Norwegian.
Looks like this one is a popular candidate for the longest official word:
Minoritetsladningsbærerdiffusjonskoeffisientmålingsapparatur.
It’s an instrument for measuring the distance between particles in crystalline materials.
Yeah, Wikipedia tells me the longest word that was actually in use is Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung. It was a decree from 2003 until 2007.
Basically:
- “Grundstück” is a plot of land.
- “Verkehr” is
traffic“trade” in this context. - “Genehmigung” is approval.
- “Zuständigkeit” is responsibility.
- “Übertragung” is transfer.
- “Verordnung” is decree.
So, it decreed that the responsibility of approving
traffic ontrade of private plots of land should be transferred (to a different government body).While technically correct, the word
Verkehrhere does not translate totraffic, but rather belongs to the compoundVerkehrsgenehmigungwhich is roughly atrade permitfor selling a plot of land or using it as a collateral on a loan.Damn, seems you’re right. For folks reading along: That’s not how that word usually works in German, but I guess, it is how it works in German legalese…
German legalese has
Verkehras a reference toin Verkehr bringenwhich meansput something on the market/put something on circulation.But it’s hard to recognize /learn because
Verkehralmost(?) always meanstrafficoutside of legalese and- There are also traffic laws, that also use
Verkehrbut really meantraffic
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Lithuanian: “Nebeprisivaizdotinklaraštininkaujantiesiems”
Meaning: To those who are no longer satiated by the amount of vlogs they create
In Estonian, we traditionally consider the word kuulilennuteetunneliluuk - the hatch of the tunnel for the bullet’s flight path, to be the longest, but as with German, arbitrarily large words are possible.
Not the longest ones but the first that came to mind:
In French, one of the longest words is “anticonstitutionnellement”, which means unconstitutionally. It’s long but not something you’d use in daily conversation.
For Japanese, it’s trickier because the language doesn’t really form long standalone words like German does. But if we count kanji compounds, something like “超電磁砲” (ちょうでんじほう, chōdenjihō), meaning railgun, is a cool one. Of course, technical or bureaucratic terms can get way longer, but they’re more like phrases than words.
Here are the longest words in Esperanto. I’m not fluent though, still learning.
Anticonstitutionnellement
In a manner that is against the constitution.
Antidisestablishmentarianism
opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England
Also bonus Welsh town name:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Literally translated, the long form of the name means: “[The] church of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [of the] pool (pwll) of the white hazels (gwyn gyll) near to [lit. “over against”] (go ger) the fierce whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) of the red cave (gogo[f] goch)”
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
A weatherman saying it went viral ~9 years ago, if anyone wants to hear the pronunciation:
Like with German, we can make arbitrarily long compound words in Dutch (for example, “kindercarnavalsoptochtvoorbereidingswerkzaamhedencomitéleden”), but if we limit it to words that are in the dictionary, “arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering“ (disability insurance) is one of the longest words that’s also commonly used.
Reminds me of a Hottentottententententoonstelling
In English, I understand it to be pneumonoultramicropicsilicovolcaniconiosis, although I may have misspelled it from memory. It’s a medical condition resulting from inhaling fine particles of silica.
The longest non-medical word (because c’mon, that’s Latin) is antidisestablishmentarianism. I think it is basically being pro-establishment (government) because of the double negative in the word.
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconiosis is English, but it is a medical word. The roots of it are Greek and Latin, like much of English. Are you aware of the etymology of antidisestablishmentarianism?
I think it also has something to do with believing that the monarch should or shouldn’t be head of the Church of England. But yeah, pro-establishment, definitely.
We’ll have lots of English speakers here given the language the question was asked in, so I’ll do Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) instead: dìochuimhneachadh, at 17 letters. It means “forgetting”, and it is pronounced /ˈd̥ʲĩə̃xənəxəɣ/. No, I can’t say it smoothly.
Gàidhlig isn’t one of those languages that can compound words like Finnish or German, this one is just a consequence of a few different things. Firstly, the language’s spelling rules result in a lot of letters that do impart information but aren’t directly pronounced. Consonants have two forms depending on which of two sets of vowels they are next to, so any consonant or consonant cluster must always have vowels from the same set on either side. For example, the “i” in the “imhne” bit in the middle is basically only there to match the “e” at the end, since u and e aren’t in the same set of vowels and we need to know which version of the consonants between them to use. Every h is a modifier on the consonant preceding it as well. Second, the root of it is “un-remember”, so it’s already a shorter word with a prefix. Third, we’re using the verbal noun version, so it’s “the act of forgetting” rather than present-tense as in “currently forgetting something”
There are probably longer words in the language, but I don’t know it very well yet and this was the longest one I could find on a word list. I think there’s actually a version of dìochuimhnich that includes a suffix marking it as being a conditional first person plural doing the forgetting, so “we would forget”, but I don’t understand how that part of the language works. If I was to say that at the moment, I would use two words to do it, so I don’t feel like I can give it as an answer here
In English it’s usually “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU–…” (trimmed due to character limit per post)
Meaning varies with context, but it’s most often an assessment of current events.
In Finnish language you can compose compound words freely, so the question is a bit odd. Your imagination is the limit.
Google says the longest cited Finnish word is “lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas,” meaning “airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student.” Can you make one longer?
I’m guessing this means official titles, names or otherwise somehow constricted words.
I can easily extend it by adding few words: “Antiikkilentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilasehdokas” meaning “antique airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student candidate”.
Sweet. Keep going. You’re winning, I think.
Good job for AI. I’m still too sane.
Wh… What are we competing in…??
The actual longest word according to the Swedish academic word list is “Realisationsvinstbeskattning” (Capital gain taxation)
But as with many languages we can add together several words in some ways so according to Guinness world records (yeah, they suck) it’s “nord-väster-sjö-kust-artilleri-flyg-spanings-simulator-anläggnings-materiel-underhålls-uppföljnings-system-diskussions-inläggs-förberedelse-arbeten.” (North western lake coast artillery flight reconnaissance simulator construction material maintenance follow-up system discussion posts preparation work.)
