SESQUIPEDALIAN WORDS

SESQUIPEDALIAN WORDS
are very long words, literally, "a foot and a half long."
This adjective is applied ironically to pedantic words of inordinate length, sesqui is a Latin adverb meaning "half as much again"; pedalis (based on ped, the stem of pes, foot) means "a foot long"; hence sesquipedalis (a foot and a half long).

Try to recite an example of a preposterous bit of sesquipedalianism,

floccinaucinihilipilification

Congratulations you've just recited the 10th longest word in the English language. It means the action of estimating as worthless.

How about the 7th longest word? Ready?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Easy isn't it? Easy because the word was popularized by the song of this title in the film Mary Poppins (1964) where it used to mean 'wonderful".

The 5th longest word is,

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Next to supercali... I think this is the second word on the Top 10 list that's easy to recite. You just divide the word into five parts, i.e.

Pneumono/ ultramicroscopic/ silico/ volcano/ coniosis

That's it. This word first appeared in print in 1936 meaning' a lung disease caused by breathing very fine dust '.

The 2nd longest word is very memorable to me. This word was often recited by the late Ernie Baron (Pinoy walking encyclopedia) in his program, ' Knowledge Power'. Whenever a listener in his program would inquire about the longest word, he will recite this word readily. The word is,

Aopadotenachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhipotrimmatosil-
phioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralek
tryonoptekeplialliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon

Mr. Baron would recite this word as if he was only singing.

This word is the English transliteration of a 170- letter Greek word that appears in The Ecclesiazusae ( a comedy on government by women) by the Greek playwright Aristophanes as a description of a 17-ingredient dish.

Finally, for the longest word in the English language? I need to muster enough time...