# The longest word in the English language **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 1999, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903 "1999-10-09T21:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/21 "1999-10-12T01:36:00Z")
Hey, JWKennedy. The claim that “pneumoultra-yaddayaddayadda” is a hoax is interesting. Where’d you hear it? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/22 "1999-10-12T13:14:00Z")
MKIA: AFAIK, the lung disease was created for a specific dictionary, and doesn’t appear anywhere in medical literature. That’s what I’ve heard–could be another UL. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/23 "1999-10-13T18:11:00Z")
Hey, when we discuss 19th Century Church of England history, we use “antidisestablishmentarianism” all the time!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/24 "1999-10-13T20:37:00Z")
So, polycarp, are you saying some of the people in the 19th Century Church of England behaved _Antidisestablismentarianistically?_ (34 letters, ha!) * * * Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992. ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/25 "1999-10-13T22:35:00Z")
i’ve got a (possible dumb) question. there are scientist that speak different languages, so all those long medical terms…how do you say them in chinese,et al? not all of them are latin based. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/26 "1999-10-13T23:27:00Z")
I only know a couple: In Chinese Hernia is “Won Hung Lo” Tinnitus is “Yu Rang” Uncontrollable libido in Hawaiian is “Kamonna Wanna Laya” ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/27 "1999-10-13T23:30:00Z")
I think it’s perfectly kosher to import medical and scientific words into pretty much any language, untranslated. Sometimes the word will be pronounced slightly differently, and often transliterated. Transliteration should be pretty doable for phonetic alphabets like the Japanese _kana_s and Arabic. It seems like it would nearly impossible in Chinese, so I bet they just write the word in next to all their ordinary Chinese characters. This wouldn’t apply to medical and scientific words that exist in the language before their exposure to English or Latin or wherever the new word came from. It’s easy to translate “acquired immune deficiency syndrome” into any language, so they probably do that (and give it the appropriate acronym?). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/28 "1999-10-14T13:58:00Z")
Just a WAG about how they do it in Chinese is that they describe the disease, so something like “adrenoleukodystrophy” might be translated as “genetic nerve-sheath deterioration disease.” In Spanish, for example, “bazooka” (OK, not a medical term) translated at one time to “portable anti-tank weapon.” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/29 "1999-10-14T15:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s easy to translate “acquired immune deficiency syndrome” into any language, so they probably do that (and give it the appropriate acronym?). In french: syndrome d’immunodéficience acquise or SIDA * * * Jacques Kilchoer Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903/30 "1999-10-15T05:46:00Z")
I don’t recall offhand where I saw the account of “pneumoultra…” being a hoax, but it was quite circumstantial and from a reliable source (maybe even Cecil). But I would add that as a word it’s all wrong – it’s odd bits of Latin, Greek and English jammed up together in a way that a real scientist trying to create the word wouldn’t have done. * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-word-in-the-english-language/3903.md?page=1)