I love the German word verbesserungsbedürftig, meaning in need of improvement. I’m not German, but thought this was a cracking word.
In Estonian, we traditionally consider the word kuulilennuteetunneliluuk - the hatch of the tunnel for the bullet’s flight path, to be the longest, but as with German, arbitrarily large words are possible.
The longest officially used German word was:
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
(63 letters)
Translation:
“Beef labeling monitoring delegation law”
This was the name of a law in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It referred to the delegation of tasks related to monitoring beef labeling, especially relevant during the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis. The law was abolished in 2013.
But German allows theoretically endless compound words. A classic (but not officially used) example is:
Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
(80 letters)
Translation:
“Association of subordinate officials of the main building for electrical services of the Danube steamship company”
This is a joke word created to illustrate how German compounds work. It’s not used in real life, but it’s popular in linguistic discussions and trivia.
Dutch can do the same. You can just keep slapping words together. It never ends.
In English it’s usually “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU–…” (trimmed due to character limit per post)
Meaning varies with context, but it’s most often an assessment of current events.
Anticonstitutionnellement
In a manner that is against the constitution.
Antidisestablishmentarianism
opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England
Also bonus Welsh town name:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Literally translated, the long form of the name means: “[The] church of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [of the] pool (pwll) of the white hazels (gwyn gyll) near to [lit. “over against”] (go ger) the fierce whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) of the red cave (gogo[f] goch)”
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
A weatherman saying it went viral ~9 years ago, if anyone wants to hear the pronunciation:
Theoretically you can make infinitely long words in German.
Yeah, Wikipedia tells me the longest word that was actually in use is Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung. It was a decree from 2003 until 2007.
Basically:
- “Grundstück” is a plot of land.
- “Verkehr” is
traffic“trade” in this context. - “Genehmigung” is approval.
- “Zuständigkeit” is responsibility.
- “Übertragung” is transfer.
- “Verordnung” is decree.
So, it decreed that the responsibility of approving
traffic ontrade of private plots of land should be transferred (to a different government body).Same in Norwegian.
Looks like this one is a popular candidate for the longest official word:
Minoritetsladningsbærerdiffusjonskoeffisientmålingsapparatur.
It’s an instrument for measuring the distance between particles in crystalline materials.
Anglophonenwortkompositafaszinationsbelustigungsbauchschmerzmittelrezeptdruckerhersteller. Manufacturer of printers for prescriptions for painkillers for belly pain caused by amusement at anglophones’ fascination with word compounds.
