As promised, today is the second installment of 14 of the Longest Words in English, by Shundalyn Allen. Today’s list is certain to complete your lesson in sesquipedalianism (see number 14).
7. Strengths has only nine letters, but all except one of them are consonants! This earns the word a Guinness World Record. It is also one of the longest monosyllabic words of the English language.
8. Euouae is six letters long, but all of the letters are vowels. It holds two Guinness World Records. It’s the longest English word composed exclusively of vowels, and it has the most consecutive vowels of any word. If you are wondering about its meaning, it’s a musical term from medieval times.
9. & 10. Unimaginatively has lots of vowels—eight in total, if you count the final y. What’s neat about this word is that its vowels and consonants alternate. It’s not the longest word with alternating consonants and vowels, though. That position is held by honorificabilitudinitatibus, a twenty-seven-letter way of saying “with honorableness.”
11. If you tsktsk someone, you indicate your disapproval by the tsktsk sound or by some other means. Tsktsks is the longest word that doesn’t contain a vowel.
12. & 13. Isograms are words that do not repeat letters. The longest examples are uncopyrightable and subdermatoglyphic. An uncopyrightable song, for example, would not be eligible for copyright. This word has fifteen letters, but one other word without repeated letters is longer—subdermatoglyphic. It’s seventeen letters, but you’ll not have much opportunity to use it outside the realm of dermatology.
14. The fourteenth word on our list describes the tendency to use long words—sesquipedalianism. If you possess this trait, you will enjoy trying to use the words in this article in your next conversation. If you are a true sesquipedalian, it shouldn’t be too hard. Except, of course, for that 189,819-letter protein name . . . it’s doubtful that your friends will wait three hours for you to finish saying it!
And from Robert T., an amusing typo or an amazing new cloud-based application:
Kara Church
Technical Editor, Advisory
Symitar Documentation Services
Editor's Corner 
Leave a Reply