# Help....a word even the dictionary dosen't know **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536 "2001-09-29T22:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Davidbw1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@Davidbw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davidbw1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/1 "2001-09-29T22:32:23Z")
While reading “The Puppet Masters” by Robert A. Heinlein I came across a tract that read as follows > [@](#): > > Digby was a floccinaucinihilipilificator at heart - which is an eight-dollar word meaning a joker who does not belive in anything he can’t bite. In my curiosity, I looked in the dictionary to prove to myself, and anyone around that there was actually a word that long which wasn’t the name for some exotic disease. I couldn’t find it. I searched in every dictionary available to me without avail. Does anyone have a **REALLY** big dictionary they could look this up in. Perhaps you’ve heard this word in a conversation with someone who has an enormous vocabulary… please let me know, as I am anxious to find a word which my english teacher does not know (and that can be used in ordinary conversation). Many thanks -DavidBW1 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/2 "2001-09-29T22:50:08Z")
I plugged just the word into [Google](http://www.google.com) and came up with several sites. From [one](http://www.funwords.com/library/f.htm)of the first I looked at: > [@](#): > > A legitimate word? Yes indeed. In fact, it’s the longest in the Oxford English Dictionary’s first edition. This word comes from the Latin flocci, nauci, and pili, all of which roughly translate as “worth very little,” and nihil, meaning “nothing.” By the way, at its most literal, the pili in floccinaucinihilipilification refers to “a hair, [and therefore] a trifle” – making it a linguistic relative of the hair-remover called a depilatory. The nihil, or “nothing,” in floccinaucinihilipilification appears in such words as nihilistic and annihilate. There is a bit more about the word on the page, including a recent usage by Jesse Helms. Search on Google, you’ll find more sites. Enjoy! Rhythmdvl ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/3 "2001-09-29T22:55:41Z")
Hmmm… there is also [Floccinaucinihilipilificator.net](http://www.floccinaucinihilipilificator.net/), but I didn’t stay on the page long enough to figure out what > [@](#): > > Our alien overlords have graciously consented to answer a few questions about the occupation of Earth and enslavement of humanity. was all about. Maybe it has something to do with the book? (I’ve only read a couple Heinlein’s books, not Puppet Masters.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/4 "2001-09-29T23:21:02Z")
The specific definition given by the first edition of the **OED** , is: > [@](#): > > The action or habit of estimating as worthless. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/5 "2001-09-29T23:22:26Z")
This[Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantidis.html) mentions it. I think Cecil himself mentioned it in a column, but it doesn’t appear to be online. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/6 "2001-09-30T00:29:57Z")
ISTR that Clinton’s Press Secretary once used it in briefing the press (one assumes it was a slow news day). I know I’ve used it on the board at least once, and another time in casual conversation with friends. Both times in relation to the subject of obscure words, so it wasn’t completely out of the blue. It was originally coined by schoolboys at Eton, although Sir Walter Scott attributed it to a letter by the poet William Shenstone. Source: _2000 Most Challenging and Obscure Words_, p. 143, Norman W. Schur. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/7 "2001-09-30T01:49:03Z")
From the Guinness Book Of Records: The longest real word in the Oxford English Dictionary is _floccipaucinihilipilification_ (alternatively spelt in hyphenated form with _n_ in seventh place) with 29 letters, meaning ‘the action of estimating as worthless’, which was first used in 1741, and later by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). That’s another thing Sir Walter has to answer for. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-word-even-the-dictionary-dosent-know/84536/8 "2001-09-30T01:50:30Z")
This is an actual word, but it is pretty obscure. It seems to be one of Heinlein’s pet words, as it appears in at least one more of his books, The Number of the Beast, when the main characters are intellectually sparring. Heinlein tends to use it to describe people who are skeptical to the point of lack of belief in almost everything.