pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

English

Alternative forms

• pneumono­ultra­microscopic­silico­volcano­koniosis
• pneumon­ultra­microscopic­silico­volcano­coniosis

Etymology

Etymology tree

English pneumono-

English ultra-

Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.?

Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós)

Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti

Proto-Hellenic *sképťomai

Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai)

Proto-Hellenic *-os

Ancient Greek -ος (-os)

Ancient Greek -ός (-ós)

Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós)

Ancient Greek -έω (-éō)

Ancient Greek σκοπέω (skopéō)

Proto-Indo-European *-yōs

Proto-Italic *-jōs

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ium

Latin mīcroscopiumlbor.

Italian microscopiobor.

English microscope

Proto-Italic *-kos

Latin -cus

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -iquebor.

Middle English -ik

English -ic

English microscopic

English silico-

English volcano

English coniosis

English pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Coined by Everett K Smith, President of the National Puzzlers' League, at their convention in 1935 as a deliberately long word. From pneumono- (“lung”) +‎ ultra- (“beyond”) +‎ microscopic +‎ silico- +‎ volcano +‎ coniosis (“dust”), as an extension of the medical term pneumonoconiosis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /njuːˌmɒ.nəʊ.ʌl.tɹə.maɪ.kɹəʊˈskɒ.pɪkˌsɪ.lɪ.kəʊ.vɒl.keɪ.nəʊ.kəʊ.niˈəʊ.sɪs/;
• (General American) enPR: no͞o-män'ō-ŭl-trə-mī-krə-skäpʹĭk-sĭl'ē-kō-väl-kā-nō-kō-nē-ōʹsĭs, IPA^(key): /nuˌmɑ.noʊ.ʌl.tɹə.maɪ.kɹoʊˈskɑ.pɪkˌsɪ.lɪ.koʊ.vɑl.keɪ.noʊ.koʊ.niˈoʊ.sɪs/;

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊsɪs
• Hyphenation: pneu‧mo‧no‧ul‧tra‧mi‧cro‧sco‧pic‧si‧li‧co‧vol‧ca‧no‧co‧ni‧o‧sis

Noun

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (uncountable)

1. (nonce word) A disease of the lungs, allegedly caused by inhaling microscopic silicate particles originating from the eruption of a volcano.
   • 1980 March, Lorin E. Kerr, “Black Lung”, in Journal of Public Health Policy, volume 1, number 1, →JSTOR, page 50:

     Call it miner's asthma, silicosis, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or black lung—they are all dust diseases with the same symptoms.

   • 1998 August 27, Smokey, “Lament for a Lung Disease”, in talk.bizarre‎^[1] (Usenet), message-ID <[email protected]>:

     I say that it must be the silica dust
     That we breathed through our mouths and our noses
     That brought pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

   • 2002 December 18, Pod, “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”, in alt.fan.scarecrow‎^[2] (Usenet), message-ID <iHSL9.2091$h43.295898@stones>:

     It's either pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, or a bad cough.

   • 2011 April 28, Kurt D. Stradtman, Am I the Person My Mother Warned Me About?: A Four-year College Experience ... Only the Good Parts, Xlibris, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 90:

     I still can't watch House M.D. and not have my mind wonder […] Even I can fear of^[sic] having Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis after watching it.

   • 2017 July 31, Michael Bryan, quotee, “Boy, 16, uses 'longest word' in Parliament”, in BBC News‎^[3], archived from the original on 2017-08-03:

     Regarding the lack of funding and attention do you agree that there should be parity of esteem between mental conditions such as body dysmorphia and physical conditions such as pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Usage notes

• This word was invented purely to be a contender for the title of the longest word in the English language, comprising forty-five letters and nineteen syllables. The word is not in official medical usage, and textbooks refer to this disease as pneumonoconiosis, pneumoconiosis, or silicosis.
• Cited as the longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary, the dictionary lists it as “a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by inhalation of very fine silica dust usually found in volcanos’ but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word”.

Quotations

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Hypernyms

• pneumoconiosis
• silicosis

Coordinate terms

• black lung
• potter's rot
• miner's cough

Translations

disease of the lungs

• American Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 礦工氣管癌／矿工气管癌

• Czech: pneumonoultramikroskoppicsilicovolcanokonióza
• Finnish: pneumonoultramikroskopikosilikovulkanokonioosi
• French: pneumonoultramicroscopiquesilicovolcanoconiose
• German: Quarzstaublunge f, Quarzstaublungenkrankheit f, Silikose f
• Japanese: ニューモノウルトラマイクロスコーピックシリコヴォルケーノコニオシス (nyūmonōrutoramaikurosukōpikkushirikovorukēnokonioshisu), 塵肺 (ja) (jinhai, jinpai)
• Korean: 진폐증 (jinpyejeung)
• Portuguese: pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconiose (pt) f
• Spanish: neumoconiosis (es) f