The Longest English Word

Mar 17, 2015 19:08
It was written that interesting things as the followings on a web site:

・"Almost" is the longest English word with all letters alphabetically sorted.
・"Rhythm" is the longest English word without vowels.

Since it was interesting for me that such familiar words are the longest, I searched these things.

Then, "aegilops" and "Adelops" were found as words whose letters are in alphabetical order.

That is, "almost" is an almost longest English word with all letters alphabetically sorted.

Also, "symphysy," "nymphly" and "TWYNDYLLYNG" were found as words without vowels.

Furthermore, it is said that the "y" of the "rhythm" is a vowel, isn't it?

In this way, there is a little difference between the facts and the written things.

I think that the author wanted to make an impact, so he used familiar words as the longest English words.
あるサイトで、次のような面白いことが書かれていました。

・全ての文字がアルファベット順になっている最も長い単語は "almost"。
・全ての文字が子音で構成されている最も長い単語は "rhythm"。

私はこんな身近な単語が最長なんて面白いと思い、少しこれらについて調べてみました。

すると、全ての文字がアルファベット順になっている単語は、他にも "aegilops" や "Adelops" が見つかりました。

すなわち、"almost" は "ほとんど" 最長のアルファベット順の英単語です。

また、全ての文字が子音で構成されている単語は、"symphysy" や "nymphly," "TWYNDYLLYNG" が見つかりました。

更に、"rhythm" は "y" が母音だとも言われています。

このように、書かれていることと事実は少しだけ違いましすが、これは読む人にインパクトを与えるため、皆が良く知る単語を使ったのだと思います。


No. 1 Chelsea149's correction
"Y" is not technically a vowel, the vowels are "a","e","i","o" and "u", but it is often taught as a vowel; it is very confusing.
kanotown
Thank you so much for your comment. :)
Yes, it's confusing. I heard that "w" is also sometimes regarded as a vowel.
Chelsea149
I've never heard of "w" being a vowel but I am from London so it might be used elsewhere.
kanotown
Sorry, according the the wikipedia, 'w' is a semivowel. It is sometimes difficult for us to distinguish the pronunciation of 'u' and 'w'.
No. 2 Peterf's correction
  • ・"Almost" is the longest English word with all letters alphabetically sorted.
  • ・"Almost" is the longest English word with all its letters in alphabetic order.
  • Since it was interesting for me that such familiar words are the longest, I searched these things.
  • Since it was interesting for me that such familiar words are the longest, I researched this matter.
  • Then, "aegilops" and "Adelops" were found as words whose letters are in alphabetical order.
  • I found "aegilops" and "Adelops" whose letters are in alphabetical order.
  • That is, "almost" is an almost longest English word with all letters alphabetically sorted.
  • That is, "almost" is almost the longest English word with all letters in alphabetic order.
  • In this way, there is a little difference between the facts and the written things.
  • In this way, there is a little difference between the facts and the what has been written.
"smiles" is the longest word in English - because there is a mile between the first and last letters........
kanotown
Thank you very much for correcting my post! :)
Haha, It's funny and I like the joke. Thank you for letting me know.
No. 3 Oceansea's correction
The longest English word that most people know is "antidisestablishmentarianism." This word is almost never used (except to talk about long words).

But when I looked it up to make sure I spelled it correctly, I discovered an even longer word!
"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis."

Apparently, this is a lung disease. Please do not ask me how to say that! Hahaha.

(None of this information is helpful for learning English... but it is fun to know!)
kanotown
Thank you for your comment. :)
Wow! the word is using forty five characters... it seems to drive me crazy. haha.
However, I tried to hear the pronunciation of the word repeatedly using Google translation, and now I became to able to pronounce it without no text. hehehe.

> but it is fun to know!
Yes, I enjoy it. Also I believe that I can use the word someday. :D
BACK