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The German language is known for its long, compound words. But what is actually the longest German word there is? In this blog post, we go in search of the German word champion.
In German, words of infinite length can theoretically be formed due to the possibility of free word composition. In legal and administrative language in particular, there are often tapeworm words with many dozens of letters. But everyday language is not free of long tongue twisters either.
The top 5 longest words according to Duden:
For a long time, the "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" was considered the longest German word in the world with 63 letters. However, this law was repealed in 2013.
Currently, "Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft" tops the list of the longest German words with 79 letters. Although it is not certain whether this company ever really existed, the word was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1972.
Of course, even longer, albeit not very common, words can be constructed. One example is the 85-letter long term "actor support flight booking office management guest performance organization specialist".
Even creative word creations such as "supercalifragilisticexpialigetisch" from the movie Mary Poppins with 34 letters are very long, but not part of the usual vocabulary.
Compared to other languages, even the longest German words still seem manageable. The longest published word is the chemical name of the protein titin with no less than 189,819 letters! Fortunately, there is also a short form of it.
Thanks to its flexibility, the German language theoretically allows words of infinite length. The record is held by "Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft" with 79 characters. Compared to other languages, however, the longest German word is still a short word.
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