# What is the longest word that has its letters arranged in alphabetical order? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756 "2007-09-01T21:37:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/1 "2007-09-01T21:37:44Z")
Please exclude any consecutive repetitions of letters - “beer” is out. “Almost” is the only six letter word I’ve found so far. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/2 "2007-09-01T21:40:41Z")
aegilops ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/3 "2007-09-01T21:41:06Z")
From [here](http://www.rinkworks.com/words/oddities.shtml): > [@](#): > > Aegilops, eight letters long, 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, effort, and ghosty. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/4 "2007-09-01T22:13:24Z")
Ah, thanks =) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/5 "2007-09-01T22:37:29Z")
Not that anybody gives a wet squirt, but [Aegilops](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegilops) is a genus of plants called goatgrass, which grow alongside wheat crops. ---
**Author:** ![MyglassISfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MyglassISfull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyglassISfull)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/6 "2007-09-02T02:27:27Z")
**Floccinoccinihilibification** is a word I am familiar with but cannot find a source. I’m not sure if the spelling is correct, my own source is a game show a while back, where the longest word, made from 3 letters, was given points, eg the letters were FCB so the game contestants would often say floccinoccinihilibilification. I say this word as flokki nokki nihill ibill ifi cation. I think it might have changed (in my head) in the 15 years since i’ve heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/7 "2007-09-02T02:44:23Z")
[Floccinaucinihilipilification](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floccinaucinihilipilification) > [@](#): > > With 29 letters, it is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which presents it as “enumerated in a well-known rule from the Eton Latin Grammar”. The OED dates its first use in literature at 1741 in William Shenstone’s Works in Prose and Verse: “I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money”. > > Though the OED gives no specifics on its derivation, the word is said to have been invented as an erudite joke by a student of Eton College, who, upon consulting a Latin textbook, found four words connoting ‘nothing’ or ‘worthless’, combined them, adding compound suffixes -i-, and -fication (as in e.g. glor-i-fication, from facio, “to make or do”) ---
**Author:** ![MyglassISfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MyglassISfull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyglassISfull)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-word-that-has-its-letters-arranged-in-alphabetical-order/417756/8 "2007-09-02T02:58:36Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] [Floccinaucinihilipilification](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floccinaucinihilipilification) [/QUOTE] With 29 letters, it is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which presents it as “enumerated in a well-known rule from the Eton Latin Grammar”. The OED dates its first use in literature at 1741 in William Shenstone’s Works in Prose and Verse: “I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money”. Though the OED gives no specifics on its derivation, the word is said to have been invented as an erudite joke by a student of Eton College, who, upon consulting a Latin textbook, found four words connoting ‘nothing’ or ‘worthless’, combined them, adding compound suffixes -i-, and -fication (as in e.g. glor-i-fication, from facio, “to make or do”) Thankyou, thankyou et thankyou. It’s been bugging me for a number of years.