Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.


Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis.


Pneu·mo·no·ul·tra·mi·cro·scop·ic·sil·i·co· vol·ca·no·co·ni·o·sis

    [noo-muh-noh-uhl-truh-mahy-kruh-skop-ik-sil-i-koh-vol-key-noh-koh-nee-oh-sis, nyoo-] 
–noun An obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused bysilica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.

Origin: 
< Neo-Latin; see pneumono-, ultramicroscopic , silica, volcano,(pneumono)coniosis
Dictionary.com Unabridged 
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011. 
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Link To pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis


Word Origin & History

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis 
"A facetious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by theinhalation of very fine silica dust' but occurring chiefly as aninstance of a very long word." [OED]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper 
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Medical Dictionary

pneu·mo·no·ul·tra·mi·cro·scop·ic·sil·i·co·vol·ca·no·co·ni·o·sisdefinition

Pronunciation:  /ˈn(y){uuml}-mə-(ˌ)nō-ˌəl-trə-ˌmī-krə-ˈskäp-ik-ˈsil-i-(ˌ)kō-väl-ˈkā-nō-ˌkō-nē-ˈō-səs/ 
Function: n 
pl -o·ses ; Pronunciation:  /-ˌsēz/ 
:  a pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of very fine silicate orquartz dust 
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2007 Merriam-Webster, Inc. 
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Coinage

This word was invented in 1935 by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzlers' League, at its annual meeting. The word figured in the headline for an article published by the New York Herald Tribune on February 23, 1935, titled "Puzzlers Open 103d Session Here by Recognizing 45-Letter Word":
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 name of a special form of silicosis caused by ultra-microscopic particles of silica volcanic dust...
Subsequently, the word was used in a puzzle book, Bedside Manna, after which members of the NPL campaigned to have it included in major dictionaries.
This 45-letter word, referred to as P45, first appeared in the 1939 supplement to the Merriam-Webster New International Dictionary, Second Edition.





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