The word Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is officially the longest word in English language. It means “a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, mostly found in volcanos”.

So let’s break it down to understand it better:

  • pneumono = related to lungs (Latin, from Greek)
  • ultra = beyond (Latin, as in “ultraviolet”)
  • microscopic = extremely small (Latin/Old English, from Greek mikron, small, and skopos, view)
  • silico = silica (Latin)
  • volcano = volcano (Latin)
  • coni = related to dust (Greek: konis, dust)
  • osis = disease / condition (Greek)

It is cool to know about the longest word in english. But can you pronounce this 45-letter word in a single breath? :-)