The Longest Word in English No. 1
Jul 4th, 2008 by admin
The longest word in English (and in the world) contains 3,609,750 letters and means the current day or date between real and imaginable today. It was coined by writer, director, artist and linguistic provocateur Nigel Tomm in his book . The word occupies 812 pages .
Here's an excerpt of the word:
somewhenotodayoundressomecologicalinenumerousexyeslowillingnesshotstr-angereactioneglectabulationumberightonightomorrowidoweremembersufficien-togethernessobviousoomphilariousayourselforeasonablexplorerideseriouservan-twinklechoingoosevenowomeneedoorbellikelectricalamplantingoverockslightly-ellowelluminousportuitionevereoccupiesilentouringadderoastsalmonearlyowlec-habitationationalizespecialegornamentitartanomineejectwolivesubjectwentiet-hypertextransformereappearstaticrazyoungsterunearbyachtoo...eddingown
Cover image of The Blah Story, Volume 19:
The word was coined using simple algorithm:
Apparently Tomm's neological method (or is it madness?) is to string together words where the last letter of one word is the same as the first letter of another. So "somewhennotoday" comes from "somewhen", "not", and "today" (with the common first and last letters reduced to one character).
Moreover, the word contains all previously known longest words (page numbers where these words can be found in The Blah Story, Volume 19 book are given):
- lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphio-paraomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryo-noptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon (4 page);
- taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu (53 page);
- pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (103 page);
- pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (153 page);
- floccinaucinihilipilification (203 page);
- antidisestablishmentarianism (253 page);
- honorificabilitudinitatibus (303 page);
- aldiborontiphoscophornio (353 page);
- chrononhotonthologos (353 page);
- bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonn-thunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk (503 page);
- supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (803 page).
Want to hear this 3.6 million letters word live? Then listen to the robot:
P.S. All The Blah Story, Volume 19 can be downloaded for free from Nigel Tomm's Amazon page.