Its 189,819 letters long name would take around three and a half hours to pronounce. Just joking! But yes, titin also has the longest IUPAC name of a protein. Although it has its name derived from the giant Greek deity Titan, titin was annoyed at the fact that it sounded cute, so it asked The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry for a name worthy of its size. This is also the case of titin – a giant human protein responsible for the muscle’s passive elasticity. Its genesis is fascinating though.Īs you very well know, chemical names can sometimes be sesquipedalian (= very long). So long story short, yes, the longest word in the world is 189,819-letters long. It would have been too good to be true, just like Hogwarts. Like any discovery mission that dreams big, our first stop explores a ridiculously long word – 189,819 letters – that is also kinda fake.
Warning: Those suffering from hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words) should not embark on this discovery mission.
My job, as a captain, is to make sure you find this journey fruitful and rich in big words! Meanwhile, my own deepest desire is to find “the one” – the longest word in English! Whether you landed on this page out of curiosity or because you needed a little help for a Hangman game, get ready! Fasten your imaginary seatbelt because we’re about to take to the skies looking for the longest word in the world.
