Is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious the longest word in the world?

Answer 1

'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' isn't the longest word in the world, by a long shot.

Claimed longest English word:

The longest word in English is claimed to be a scientific term of 189,819 letters; it describes a protein, or a family of proteins, and doesn't appear in standard dictionaries. Researchers who need to speak of it call it 'titin' for short, which just leaves 189,814 letters to go when they write their reports.

English dictionary entries claiming the title of longest English word*:

The longest word in a standard English dictionary is the 45-letter 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis'. This word was concocted in 1935 by a fan of word games and puzzles, using the lung disease, silicosis, as its base.

Claimed to describe silicosis, it wasn't, and isn't, used by medical professionals (who use the term silicosis); it's used instead for the purpose for which it was created: to be cited as the longest word in an English dictionary, and for use in word games. Those medical workers who do use the long word say 'P-44', or 'P-45', without even laughing, and are thankful they're not working with titin instead. The word also found its way into Portugese; it is claimed to be their longest word, though I'm told the Portugese don't take it seriously, either.

The longest non-technical word in an English dictionary, (and the longest in common usage) is the 34-letter 'supercalifragilisticexpialadocious'. It was created by lyricists Richard and Robert Sherman as part of a song written for the 1964 Disney musical movie, 'Mary Poppins', and means, according to Mary Poppins herself, 'something to say when you've nothing to say', and this is how it is occasionally used, although more frequently it is used to suggest something is really good: 'beyond super', or just cited as an example of a very long word. Of the main contenders for the title of the longest non-technical English dictionary entry, the adjective supercalifragilisticexpialadocious, unlike the other two famous long words, has the distinction of remaining in popular usage.

The second-longest non-technical word in an English dictionary is the 29-letter 'floccinaucinihilipilification', a composite of four Latin words first recorded in 1791 and taken from a rule in the students' and scholars' guide, Eton Latin Grammar, first published in the 1500s. Coined as a witticism (possibly by Eton students), it is frequently cited as the longest word in English It is still occasionally used in its literal, humorous meaning: estimating something as worthless or trivial, of small value, or given away free. For example: Jo: 'I love opera,'; Kim: 'Opera's all rubbish!'; Jo: 'You're floccinaucinihilipilifating again, aren't you? To say this word, just break it up into its smaller parts: flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication.

The third-longest non-technical (and the longest non-coined, or evolved) word in an English dictionary is the 28-letter 'antidisestablishmentarianism', a term describing a political movement opposed to, or anti-, the removal of the Church of England as the UK state church, the English disestablishmentarian movement of the 1800s.

*The status of all four of these claimed longest English dictionary entries is, of course, subject to debate.

Other claimants to the longest English word title:

The longest non-scientific word in the English language is claimed to be the 85-letter Maori name of a hill in New Zealand. Next comes the 51-letter name of a village on a Welsh island, though, like the long lung disease and the Latin compilation, this word was put together simply in order to be a very long word; specifically to bestow upon the local railway station the honor of having the longest name in the British Railways guide. It worked, and people have been visiting the place for over a hundred and fifty years, just to see the signs.

Other languages, and links:

There are place names longer than the NZ hill (Bankok'sceremonial title holds a world record as the longest place name anywhere), as well as words in other languages which are candidates for the longest word in the world. Most countries have their own claimant to the title of longest word.

Have a look at the links below: more information on the alleged lung disease, P-45, is there, and the 'longest words' links have details of the New Zealand and Welsh names mentioned above, as well as of other ferociously long words from around the world.

Answer 2

No. This Marry Poppins word is 37 letters long and the longest word in English is 45 letters long AND, the longest word ever has over 1,000,000,000 letters long (about 789 pages)!