Editing Longest word in English (section)

== Major dictionaries ==
The longest word in any of the major [[English language]] [[dictionaries]] is ''[[pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis]]'' (45 letters), a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine [[Silicon dioxide|silica]] particles,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0642240#m_en_gb0642240|title=pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – definition of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis in English from the Oxford dictionary|work=oxforddictionaries.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719114141/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis#m_en_gb0642240|archive-date=2012-07-19}}</ref> specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as [[silicosis]]. The word was deliberately coined to be the longest word in English,<ref name="p45">Coined around 1935 to be the longest word; press reports on puzzle league members legitimized it somewhat. First appeared in the MWNID supplement, 1939. Today OED and several others list it, but citations are almost always as "longest word". More detail at [[pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis]].</ref> and has since been used{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim.

The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' contains ''[[pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism]]'' (30 letters).

''[[Webster's Dictionary#Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary|Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary]]'' does not contain ''antidisestablishmentarianism'' (28 letters), as the editors found no widespread, sustained usage of the word in its original meaning. The longest word in that dictionary is ''[[wikt:electroencephalographically|electroencephalographically]]'' (27 letters).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Longest Word in the Dictionary|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0048-longest_word_in_dictionary.htm|work=Ask the Editor|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=14 November 2013|format=Video|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121212903/http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0048-longest_word_in_dictionary.htm|archive-date=21 November 2013}}</ref>

The longest non-technical word in major dictionaries is ''[[wikt:floccinaucinihilipilification|flocci{{shy}}nauci{{shy}}nihili{{shy}}pili{{shy}}fication]]'' at 29 letters. Consisting of a series of Latin words meaning "nothing" and defined as "the act of estimating something as worthless"; its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741.<ref>[http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-flo2.htm "Floccinaucinihilipilification" by Michael Quinion ''World Wide Words''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821091705/http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-flo2.htm |date=2006-08-21 }};</ref><ref>The ''[[Guinness Book of Records]]'', in its 1992 and previous editions, declared the longest real word in the English language to be ''floccinaucinihilipilification''. More recent editions of the book have acknowledged ''pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis''. [http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/longestword?view=uk What is the longest English word? - Oxford Dictionaries Online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060826181850/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/longestword?view=uk |date=2006-08-26 }}</ref><ref>In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator [[Robert Byrd]] Discussion between Sen. Moynihan and Sen. Byrd "Mr. President, may I say to the distinguished Senator from New York, I used that word on the Senate floor myself 2 or 3 years ago. I cannot remember just when or what the occasion was, but I used it on that occasion to indicate that whatever it was I was discussing it was something like a mere trifle or nothing really being of moment." Congressional Record June 17, 1991, p. S7887, and at the White House by [[Bill Clinton]]'s press secretary [[Mike McCurry (press secretary)|Mike McCurry]], albeit sarcastically. December 6, 1995, White House Press Briefing in discussing Congressional Budget Office estimates and assumptions: "But if you – as a practical matter of estimating the economy, the difference is not great. There's a little bit of floccinaucinihilipilification going on here."</ref>

[[A. Ross Eckler, Jr.|Ross Eckler]] has noted that most of the longest English words are not likely to occur in general text, meaning non-technical present-day text seen by casual readers, in which the author did not specifically intend to use an unusually long word. According to Eckler, the longest words likely to be encountered in general text are ''[[deinstitutionalisation]]'' (or ''deinstitutionalization'') and ''[[counterrevolutionaries]]'', with 22 letters each.<ref>Eckler, R. ''Making the Alphabet Dance'', p 252, 1996.</ref>

A computer study of over a million samples of normal English prose found that the longest word one is likely to encounter on an everyday basis is ''uncharacteristically'', at 20 letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maltron.com/words/words-longest-modern.html |title=Longest Common Words – Modern |publisher=Maltron.com |access-date=2010-08-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427054251/http://www.maltron.com/words/words-longest-modern.html |archive-date=27 April 2009 }}</ref>