This post was originally published on April 4, 2012 and updated on July 21, 2020.
What is the longest word in the Collins English Dictionary?
The longest word listed inCollins English Dictionary* isdichloordifenyltrichloorethaan, which is the full name of the chemical DDT. It has 31 letters.
In fact, most of the very long words in the dictionary are scientific terms: the second longest word iselectro-encephalographic, which has 27 letters, and means "using an electroencephalograph" (when it refers to a machine used to record brain activity). Only slightly shorter, with 24 letters eachfosfatidylethanolamine(a chemical found in nerve tissue and brain cells) andkolangiopankreatografi(a medical technique for examining the bile ducts and pancreas).
The longest word that does not contain the letter 'e' is the 23rd lettertransubstantiationalist. This is also the longest non-scientific term and refers to a person who believes in the Roman Catholic teaching that bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ during the Eucharist.
The most consecutive consonants in a word are six. This happens in a number of words, the most well-known of whichslogan,vision screen, Inurrem. The wordyes(a mnemonic used in medieval music) is the only word containing six consecutive vowels, and is, not surprisingly, the longest word without consonants.
What is the longest word without vowels?
Without plurals, there is only one seven-letter word that has none of the five vowels. That word isyou want a nymph, which is a rare variant of 'nymph-like'. Just two words of six letters,glycylInrhythm, an 's' can be added in the plural to create a seven-letter word without a vowel.
Naturally, all of these words use the letter 'y' as a vowel. The longest words that contain no vowels and no 'y' areresult(a Celtic stringed instrument),Hug(a shed, snug or shelter),phft(an expression of mild irritation), andgrrrl(part of the phrase 'riot girl', which describes a subculture that combines feminism and punk rock). The first two of these are borrowed from Welsh and treat the letter 'w' as a vowel, while the second two owe their unconventional spelling patterns to attempts to represent spoken grunts and grunts.
Words composed of letters from the first or second half of the alphabet
The longest word consisting entirely of letters from the first half of the alphabet is the twelve letterviola idea, a comment you can make if you think some people are talking nonsense.
The longest words consist exclusively of letters from the second half of the alphabetnon-support(lack of support for family members) andzoosporal(a technical term used in biology), both of which have ten letters.
Words from QWERTY keyboard rows
Some common ten-letter words, e.geternity,owner,repertoire, Intypewritercan only be typed using the top row of a QWERTY keyboard. Until a few years ago, these were the longest words you could make without leaving the top row. However, the expansion of the dictionary to include more rare and unusual words has recently resulted in an 11-letter word being included in the dictionarybrudurt(a plant belonging to the rose family).
The eight letter wordHaggadah(the book that describes the procedure for the Jewish Passover) can be typed using only the middle row of a QWERTY keyboard. You can also add an 's' to this to make a nine-letter word. But if you don't want to capitalize words, you'll have to settle for seven lettersLucerne,ash fall, ofgraduated.
There are no vowels on the bottom row of the QWERTY keyboard, so the longest word that can be made from the letters iszzz(an informal word for sleep).
Words with vowels in alphabetical order
Two common English words,abstinentInfunny, all have the five vowels 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o' and 'u' each appearing once in their alphabetical order, and there are also three scientific terms in the dictionary that use this unusual share property:arsenic,cesieus, Innoble.
Words containing 'X', 'Y' and 'Z' in alphabetical order
The wordsfilter,low in oxygen,methoxybenzeen, Inoxyfenbutazonare the only ones in which the letters 'x', 'y' and 'z' each appear once in alphabetical order. All four of these words come from chemistry and contain the letters 'oxy', referring to the element oxygen.
Words with unusual double letters
The only words that contain a double 'j' arehajj(the pilgrimage to Mecca), the associated wordspilgrimageInhajj, and alsoGujju(an informal word for a Gujarati person).
The only words that contain a double "y" arethat(an official statement in Islam) andjust saying(an honorary title among Muslims). Both words are borrowed from Arabic and are relatively new to the dictionary.
The wordsantivaxxer(someone who is against vaccination) anddoxx(to publish personal information about someone on the internet) – both added to the dictionary in 2017 – are the only words that contain a double 'x'.
That leaves 'q' as the only letter that never doubles in a word, even when you get two 'q's together in abbreviations likeqqvInto follow.
*These facts and figures relate only toCollins English Dictionary, Collins' flagship dictionary of British and World English.
Updated from the original article byIan Brookes, author and editor.
Any opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Collins or its parent company HarperCollins.
