h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, replace "Infinity" with "infinite" in my previous post, sorry.

And another long word is the silent one that sometime occurs between 2 people, and that can say a LOT during the time it takes to "say" it. And this one is also the one with the fewest letters...

Somewhere i read that Hydroneurocousticdiafragmacontracktions means
hiccups. I may be wrong.... funny though.

Hello all!

The problem with Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is that it's not actually a word, but a medical term, and is therefore not often recognised by the English dictionary, along with many many other stupidly long medical terms (although I don't have my medical dictionary handy so cannot enlighten you!)

Which leaves floccipocciwhateveritwas as the largest English word; one character longer than antidisestablishdoodah if written correctly!

This still doesn't answer the question (or does it..) of what the largest word actually is. I liked the New Zealand one involving the chap with the large knees consuming mountains (as you do..) but as with the Welsh station and the like, it's not actually one singular word in their language, but a series of words.

If such is allowed, then I propose that I leave out the spaces in my above paragraphs, translate it into Italian, and wallah, I have the largest word:

QualelasciailfloccipocciwhateveritwascomelapiùgrandeparolaingleseuncaratterepiùlungodiantidisestablishdoodahsescrittocorrettamenteQuestotuttavianonrispondealladomandaolofadiciòchelapiùgrandeparolaèeffettivamenteHoamatolaNuovaZelandauncoinvolgereiltipoconlegrandiginocchiaconsumandolemontagnecomeleifamacomeconlastazionegalleseelamandononèeffettivamenteunaparolasingolarenellalorolinguamaunaseriediparole.

Lord only knows how you pronounce it!

If you're talking about Llanfair PG the answer's 1. In Welsh LL is a separate letter and there are five of them.

I have a book that says it's really 1,909 letters, not 1,913.

i personally believe that "hi" is the longest word because of the legal ramifications.

PNEUMONO-ULTRA-MICRO-SCOPIC-SILICO-VOLCANO-CONIOSIS
(also spelled
PNEUMONO-ULTRA-MICRO-SCOPIC-SILICO-VOLCANO-KONIOSIS) = a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust.
This is the longest word in any English dictionary. However, it was coined by Everett Smith, the President of The National Puzzlers' League, in 1935 purely for the purpose of inventing a new "longest word". The Oxford English Dictionary described the word as factitious. Nevertheless it also appears in the Webster's, Random House, and Chambers dictionaries.
Chemical Terms
Two chemical terms (3,641 and 1,913 letters long) have appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records. They were withdrawn because they have never been used by chemists, and there is no theoretical limit to the length of possible legitimate chemical terms. A DNA molecule could have a name of over 1,000,000,000 letters if it was written out in full.

(1,185) ACETYL-SERYL-TYROSYL-SERYL-ISO-LEUCYL-THREONYL-SERYL-PROLYL-SERYL-GLUTAMINYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-VALYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-LEUCYL-SERYL-SERYL-VALYL-TRYPTOPHYL-ALANYL-ASPARTYL-PROLYL-ISOLEUCYL-GLUTAMYL-LEUCYL-LEUCYL-ASPARAGINYL-VALYL-CYSTEINYL-THREONYL-SERYL-SERYL-LEUCYL-GLYCYL-ASPARAGINYL-GLUTAMINYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-GLUTAMINYL-THREONYL-GLUTAMINYL-GLUTAMINYL-ALANYL-ARGINYL-THREONYL-THREONYL-GLUTAMINYL-VALYL-GLUTAMINYL-GLUTAMINYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-SERYL-GLUTAMINYL-VALYL-TRYPTOPHYL-LYSYL-PROLYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-PROLYL-GLUTAMINYL-SERYL-THREONYL-VALYL-ARGINYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-PROLYL-GLYCYL-ASPARTYL-VALYL-TYROSYL-LYSYL-VALYL-TYROSYL-ARGINYL-TYROSYL-ASPARAGINYL-ALANYL-VALYL-LEUCYL-ASPARTYL-PROLYL-LEUCYL-ISOLEUCYL-THREONYL-ALANYL-LEUCYL-LEUCYL-GLYCYL-THREONYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-ASPARTYL-THREONYL-ARGINYL-ASPARAGINYL-ARGINYL-ISOLEUCYL-ISOLEUCYL-GLUTAMYL-VALYL-GLUTAMYL-ASPARAGINYL-GLUTAMINYL-GLUTAMINYL-SERYL-PROLYL-THREONYL-THREONYL-ALANYL-GLUTAMYL-THREONYL-LEUCYL-ASPARTYL-ALANYL-THREONYL-ARGINYL-ARGINYL-VALYL-ASPARTYL-ASPARTYL-ALANYL-THREONYL-VALYL-ALANYL-ISOLEUCYL-ARGINYL-SERYL-ALANYL-ASPARAGINYL-ISOLEUCYL-ASPARAGINYL-LEUCYL-VALYL-ASPARAGINYL-GLUTAMYL-LEUCYL-VALYL-ARGINYL-GLYCYL-THREONYL-GLYCYL-LEUCYL-TYROSYL-ASPARAGINYL-GLUTAMINYL-ASPARAGINYL-THREONYL-PHENYL-ALANYL-GLUTAMYL-SERYL-METHIONYL-SERYL-GLYCYL-LEUCYL-VALYL-TRYPTOPHYL-THREONYL-SERYL-ALANYL-PROLYL-ALANYL-SERINE = Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain.
This word has appeared in the American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts and is thus considered by some to be the longest real word.
Place Names
There are many long place names around the world. Here are a few of the largest.

(85)TAUMATA-WHAKA-TANGI-HANGA-KOAUAU-O-TAMATEA-TURIPUKAKA-PIKI-MAUNGA-HORO-NUKU-POKAI-WHENUA-KITANA-TAHU
A hill in New Zealand. This Maori name was in general use, but is now generally abbreviated to Taumata. The name means: the summit of the hill, where Tamatea, who is known as the land eater, slid down, climbed up and swallowed mountains, played on his nose flute to his loved one.

"Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone" and "hydroxydeoxycorticosterones" are the largest anagrams.