The number of letters and reading time of the longest word in the world can exceed the most daring assumptions. The debate about whether lexical forms not used in ordinary speech can be considered champions in such a competition is ongoing. The longest words are selected and marked in all languages. And let primacy be given to the name of the chemical element, not so often mentioned, but the fact remains: the longest word in the world of 189,819 letters is pronounced 3.5 hours!
Criterias of choice
The discussion concerns the main images of the question of how to choose:
- When counting and comparing, is it worth considering only the main form of the word or also the changed ones, which are often several letters longer?
- Is it right to put metalanguages (scientific superlanguages) on a par with the main ones and take into account their terms, which in some areas of knowledge have no restrictions on the formation of their composition and can include numbers and symbols?
- Should the stock of the lexical fund of the group of polysynthetic (corporate) languages be taken into account? These include Chukchi, Korean, Eskimo, Koryak, Aleut. A distinctive feature is the presence of a unique model adapted to express thoughts: "the beginning of a word - author’s thought - the end of a word." In such cases, the line between word and thought is almost erased.
- How to calculate the length - by the number of capital letters or by sounds? Count hyphen in a word or disregard it in the total number of letters?
- Should we consider in this context words that are understandable and compiled according to the rules of word formation of the language, but are not separate units taken into account by dictionaries (for example, complex numerals like twenty-nine hundred and nine nine kilograms)?
- If you select the longest word from the common ones, which dictionary should I use for use as a reference source of information?
World record
The title of the protein titin titin, or otherwise - connectin, consisting of 189,819 letters, declared the longest, according to linguists, the word in its usual meaning is not. This is just a verbal formula - the voiced composition of the organic compound. This word is not included in any dictionary of the world, although its existence is already universally known.
To place its uppercase version requires a lot of space in the text and even more time and perseverance to read, but for those who wanted to listen, attempts have been made several times to read the name of the chemical element in front of the video camera.
The longest word in the world begins with the part “methionyl”, and ends with the end of “isoleucine”.
This organic compound is a giant protein comprising 244 regions that are joined by an unstructured sequence of peptides.
Among other highest indicators, the titin gene (the name itself is taken from the Greek designation of the giant of divine origin - titan) is known for containing the largest number of DNA sections called exons - there are 363 of them in the titin gene.
Titin is involved in muscle contraction. But the protein is still most famous thanks to its name, the longer of which does not yet exist in our world.
Common Terms
To select the longest word in the world, not related to specialized vocabulary or its non-standard forms, strict rules are not established, but nevertheless preference is usually given to nouns in the nominative case. Although adjectives, numerals and nouns in other cases, especially in the case, usually have an advantage of several letters in length and are often recorded in record books as the longest words.
If you choose those that are used in real life, then each language, of course, has its own record holder.
The longest word in Russian
There is a joke in the world of the Internet that the longest word in Russian is "The Word of Igor's Campaign".
If we talk about this topic seriously, Russian records do not differ in a large number of letters in the composition, and various sources highlight their longest words in each part of the speech.
The Guinness Book of Records according to the results of data correction, made in 2003, considers the adjective as the longest considering word, the longest word of the Russian language, formed from 35 letters.
However, if you neglect the logic in word formation, you can create very serious competition to other languages.
How to make a very long Russian word
Russian speech has a number of features that allow you to form incredibly long verbal forms:
- It has no quantitative restrictions on the use of the prefix "pra-", expressing the degree of kinship. So when transmitting in speech communication with a very distant descendant or ancestor, there is no limit to the size of the word.
- If you give a chance to compete in chemical terms for the word length, here in Russian the winning word for the substance used in plant photosynthesis will consist of 40 letters: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrin, and the adjective characterizing the patented means of 55 letters: tetrahydropyranyl cyclopentyl tetrahydropyridide.
- Numerals can be very long, indicating the time of existence, since all the components are written in the same word with the "-year-old" part. If you characterize the age of ancient fossils or other historical phenomena, the magnitude of the word can be very large.
- By the same principle, it is possible to compile numerals denoting quantitative quantities expressing length, weight, time. Thanks to the parts characterizing what is being measured (kilogram, millisecond, etc.), such words can be even longer than those that express age indicators.
- No matter how funny the fact is, it remains a fact. The term that expresses a mental disorder - the fear of long words, consists of 33 letters: hippopotomononstrosesquippedalophobia. It is a kind of joke on the mass of Greek names denoting various fears and being made up of words borrowed from different languages, it is deciphered as follows: Greek ἱπποπόταμος - "river horse", or in another way - a hippopotamus; the Latin monstrum is “monster” and sesquipedalian is “one and a half feet,” and again the Greek word φ βος is “fear”.
Long words in English
In British speech, the first place in length with an index of 1913 letters, as well as among the words of the whole world, is the name of the chemical element. However, in the generally accepted vocabulary there are rather long words:
- Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu - 85 letters - such an unpronounceable and difficult to spell name is assigned to one of the hills in New Zealand).
- Another geographical name, belonging to a city in Wales, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch, 59 letters, is slightly behind.
- The name of a pulmonary disease resulting from inhalation of silicate dust: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters).
German language achievements
German speech is famous for its simple pronunciation and complex derivation, which occurs due to the successive addition of several words in their full form, with the aim of creating one.
Therefore, one of the longest words in the world used in ordinary speech can be attributed to the German language.
This is the name of a professional organization, a society of junior level employees, belonging to the body responsible for the supervision of construction at the main department for the electrical services of the shipping company on the Danube River, consisting of 79 letters:
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft.
Lithuanian language
Not the longest word in the world, but an interesting word in its meaning is present in the Lithuanian language: Nebeprisikiskiakopusteliaujanciuosiuose. It is composed of 39 letters and characterizes the representatives of the stronger sex , who are no longer able to produce for themselves the required amount of wood.
Turkish language
The mysterious eastern soul and the propensity for ornate expressions gave rise to the following 43-letter word: Çekoslovakyalilastipamadiklarimizdanmisiniz - you are the kind of person that cannot be made a Czechoslovak.
Spanish longest word
Electroencefalografistas is the name of a medical instrument. It consists of 24 letters.
What distinguished French speech
Anticonstitutionnellement - 25 letters. Designates who violates the constitution.
Swedish record
Swedes undoubtedly lead. The longest recorded word consists of 130 letters:
nordöstersjökustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranlä gg-ningsmaterielunderhållsuppföljningssystemdiskussions-inläggsförberedelsearbeten.
It was invented to indicate the preparation of documents in the discussion about the maintenance of the system based on materials obtained by air reconnaissance of the location of artillery batteries in the north-eastern part of the Baltic coast.
Records are undoubtedly interesting. Finding out which word is the longest in the world is very exciting and informative. The main thing is that the words are not formed specifically for such a competition, and the pursuit of primacy does not harm the functionality of the language. Speech, written and spoken, is primarily a way of transmitting information, and excessively long verbal forms hardly contribute to its easy perception.