Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (word)
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (/ˌnjuːmənoʊˌʌltrəˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪkˌsɪlɪkoʊvɒlˌkeɪnoʊˌkoʊniˈoʊsɪs/[1][2]) is a word that was made up in 1935 by Everett M. Smith. She was the president of the National Puzzlers' League. Oxford Dictionaries says that t is the longest word in the English language. Oxford Dictionaries say that it means "an artificial long word said to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust".[3]
Split up meaning[change | change source]
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in the English language. The word can be split:
- Pneumono: from ancient Greek (πνεύμων, pneúmōn) which means lungs
- ultra: from Latin, which means beyond
- micro and scopic: from ancient Greek, which means small looking. It is trying to describe to the very small size of particles
- silico-: from Latin, silicon
- volcano: from Latin
- coni: from ancient Greek (κόνις, kónis) which means dust
- -osis: from ancient Greek, it is used at the end of a word to mean medical condition
Everett M. Smith created the word in the daily meeting for the National Puzzlers' League (N.P.L.). New York Herald Tribune put the word as its title on 23 February 1935: "Puzzlers Open 103rd Session Here by Recognizing 45-Letter Word":[4]
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis succeeded electrophotomicrographically as the longest word in the English language recognized by the National Puzzlers' League at the opening session of the organization's 103rd semi-annual meeting held yesterday at the Hotel New Yorker. The puzzlers explained that the forty-five-letter word is the synonym of a special form of pneumoconiosis caused by ultra-microscopic particles of silica volcanic dust...
The word was also used in Frank Scully's puzzle book Bedside Manna. After this the N.P.L. wanted to put the word in famous dictionaries.[6][7] The Merriam-Webster dictionary put in their dictionary in 1939.[8]
In The Simpsons episode Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy the character Abraham Simpson (talking by Dan Castellaneta) says the word rightly and in the right meaning.
References[change | change source]
- ↑ "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-03-22.
- ↑ "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis". Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- ↑ "Definition of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis in Oxford dictionary (British and World English)". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rochlin, Dara (2016-04-20). "Word Wednesday: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis". Dara Rochlin Book Doctor. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
- ↑ Staff (1935-02-23). "Puzzlers Open 103rd Session Here by Recognizing 45-Letter Word". New York Herald Tribune.
- ↑ Cole, Chris (1999). Wordplay, A Curious Dictionary of Language Oddities. Sterling. pp. 106–107. ISBN 0-8069-1797-0.
- ↑ Miller, D. Gary (2014). English Lexicogenesis. Oxford University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-19-968988-0.
- ↑ Miller, Jeff (2017-12-24). "A collection of word oddities and trivia: page 11, long words". A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia. Retrieved 2007-10-08.