Word Play: the longest words
Next week I'm in Oxford doing a bit of filming for The One Show with my friend Susie Dent, the genius lexicographer who presides over Dictionary Corner on Countdown on Channel 4. I've been a guest in Dictionary Corner many times - more times, I think, than anyone else. In the early days of the programme, in the 1980s, other Dictionary Corner regulars included Ted Moult, Kenneth Williams, Derek Nimmo, Ned Sherrin and Russell Harty. I've stories to tell about each of them, which I must get round to one day. Meanwhile, here's a bit of word play to amuse you on your way to work - or to sleep.
The shortest English word that contains all the vowels is eunoia. It means beautiful thinking, and I think it is a rather beautiful word. In a recent survey, the word voted the ‘most liked’ in the language was lullaby. Here's what I know about long words. If I've got any of this wrong, Susie can put me right when I see her.
THE LONGEST WORDS
29 Letters
floccinaucinihilipilification
This is the longest non-technical word in The Oxford English Dictionary. It means ‘the act of estimating as worthless’ and dates from 1741.
34 Letters
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
This is a nonsense word invented for the movie Mary Poppins (1964). In the whole history of language, no word of more than 30 letters has ever been so widely known.
37 Letters
praetertranssubstantiationslistically
An adverb used in Mark McShane’s novel Untimely Ripped (1963)
45 Letters
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
The longest word in The Oxford English Dictionary. It is the name of a miner’s lung disease and was deliberately coined to be the longest word in the dictionary.
100 letters
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk
From the third paragraph of James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake (1939)
LONGEST WORDS WITH DIFFERENT LETTERS
At 15 letters each, these are the two longest words with unique letters (i.e. no letter is repeated):
uncopyrightable and dermatoglyphics
LONGEST ENGLISH WORD CONSISTING ONLY OF VOWELS
euouae
Euouae, is a medieval mnemonic used to recall the musical tones required when chanting the Gloria Patri.
It also takes the title as the English word with the most consecutive vowels. Words with five consecutive vowels include cooeeing and queueing.
CONSONANT AFTER CONSONANT
Archchronicler, catchphrase, eschscholtzia (sea snails of a sort), latchstring, lengthsman and the medical term postphthisic each have six consonants in a row.
Borschts has six consonants in a row in just one syllable.
Words with five consecutive consonants include:
angsts,birthplace, dumbstruck, eighths, heartthrob, lengths, postscript, strengths, thumbscrew, twelfths, warmths, witchcraft.
LONGEST WORD WITH STRICTLY ALTERNATING VOWELS AND CONSONANTS
honorificabilitudinitatibus
At 27 letters it means ‘with honorableness’. It is also the longest word that appears in the complete works of William Shakespeare.
The longest everyday word with this unusual property is unimaginatively, with 15 letters.
LONGEST WORD WITH ONLY ONE VOWEL
strengths
Strengths is nine letters long. Strengthlessnesses, at eighteen letters, is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel repeated.
LONGEST WORD WITH LETTERS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
aegilops
The word has two distinct meanings: it can be a genus of goat grass or a stye in the inner corner of an eye.
LONGEST WORD WITH LETTERS IN REVERSE ALPHABETICAL ORDER
spoonfeed
LONGEST WORD IN WHICH EACH LETTER OCCURS AT LEAST TWICE
unprosperousness
REPEAT AFTER ME
The chincherinchee is a beautiful plant found in South Africa. The word chincherinchee is the only known English word that has one letter occurring once, two letters occurring twice, and three letters occurring three times.
Ultrarevolutionaries is a word in which each of the five main vowels occurs twice.
MUSICAL WORDS
Cabbaged and fabaceae, each with eight letters, are the longest words that can be played on a musical instrument – i.e. only using the letters of the notes A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Seven-letter words with this property include acceded, baggage, cabbage, defaced and effaced.
ALPHABETICALS
Aegilops, with eight letters, is the longest word whose letters are arranged in alphabetical order. Seven-letter words with this property include beefily and billowy. Six-letter words include abhors, accent, access, almost, biopsy, bijoux, billow, chintz and effort.