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The longest word in major English dictionaries is 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis', 45 letters long. It is said to name a lung disease caused by breathing in very fine volcanic dust.

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The word was coined in 1935 by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzlers' League, an American club for word-game enthusiasts. It was first printed in the New York Herald Tribune on 23 February 1935, in a report on the league's meeting, and entered a supplement to Merriam-Webster's dictionary in 1939. It is built from Greek and Latin parts: pneumono (lungs), ultramicroscopic (extremely small), silico (silica, the mineral in sand), volcano and coniosis (a disease caused by dust). Doctors simply say silicosis for lung damage from breathing in silica dust. Other famous long words are much shorter: floccinaucinihilipilification, 'the act of judging something worthless', has 29 letters, and antidisestablishmentarianism has 28. Languages that build words by adding suffixes can go further: a famous made-up Turkish word has 70 letters.

Türkçe oku
Büyük İngilizce sözlüklerdeki en uzun sözcük 45 harflidir: “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”. Çok ince volkanik tozun solunmasıyla ortaya çıkan bir akciğer hastalığının adı olarak bilinir.

Sözcüğü 1935'te Everett M. Smith türetti. Smith, bulmaca ve kelime oyunu meraklılarının kurduğu Amerikan kulübü National Puzzlers' League'in başkanıydı. Sözcük ilk kez 23 Şubat 1935'te New York Herald Tribune gazetesinde, kulübün toplantısını anlatan bir haberde çıktı; 1939'da da Merriam-Webster sözlüğünün ek cildine girdi. Yunanca ve Latince parçalardan kurulmuştur: pneumono (akciğer), ultramicroscopic (son derece küçük), silico (kumda bulunan mineral silika), volcano (yanardağ) ve coniosis (tozun yol açtığı hastalık). Hekimler silika tozu solumaktan kaynaklanan akciğer hasarına kısaca silikoz der. Ünlü öteki uzun sözcükler bunun yanında kısa kalır: “Bir şeyi değersiz sayma” anlamına gelen floccinaucinihilipilification 29, antidisestablishmentarianism ise 28 harflidir. Türkçe gibi sözcüğe ek ekleyerek yeni sözcük türeten diller çok daha ileri gidebilir: Sık anılan uydurma “Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine” tam 70 harftir.

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