What is the longest word in the world? Origin and definition explained

Have you ever wondered what the longest word ever was? Well, here’s everything we know about the world’s longest word, including its origin and definition.

Back in 1964, the Mary Poppins movie helped coin the term that many believe is the longest word in the English dictionary: ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.’

While that would be an extraordinarily good guess, there are actually longer words that exist without even leaving the English language.

With almost 190,000 characters, the longest word ever actually has a fair bit of debate surrounding it.

What is the longest word in the world?

The longest word ever is Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine. It’s made up of exactly 189,819 characters, which is why we included the ellipsis in the middle of it. Back in 2016, it took one YouTuber over three hours to say it in a video.

If you’d like to see it in its entirety, check out DigitalSpy’s article.

It is the chemical name for the protein “titin,” which is the largest protein known to man. Since chemical names consist of what it is made up of, it’s created quite the word.

However, there is a bit of debate around whether or not it’s a proper word, as it consists of the name of dozens of other smaller chemicals put together. It’s also not in a dictionary.

What is the longest word in the English dictionary?

The longest word that is in a major English dictionary is ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.’ It is considered to be the name for the lung disease Silicosis, but some believe that it is incorrect in that use.

In their arguments, they claim that the “volcanoconiosis” ending to the word doesn’t appropriately describe the lung disease so it cannot be used as a way to describe it.

There you have it – that’s all that we know about the longest word in the world. For more news and other viral stories, keep it locked to Dexerto.