这些超级长的单词真是一个比一个刷新我的认知……

1 sesquipedalianism

冗长的单词

Let’s start off with a word related to the business of “longest words.” Sesquipedalianism is the tendency to use long words. Do you have sesquipedalian tendencies?

让我们从一个与“最长单词”相关的单词开始。Sesquipedalianism这个单词就是倾向于使用长单词。你有使用冗长单词的倾向吗？

The word is traced to the ancient Roman poet Horace, who in a treatise on the art of poetry, wrote that in certain circumstances, poets must avoid sesquipedalia verba, a Latin phrase meaning “words [verba] a foot and a half long [sesquipedalia].” Horace clearly had a sense of humor.

这个词可以追溯到古罗马诗人贺拉斯，他在一篇关于诗歌艺术的论文中写道，在某些情况下，诗人必须避免使用sesquipedalia verba，这是一个拉丁语短语，意思是“单词(verba)一英尺半长(sesquipedalia)”。“贺拉斯显然有幽默感。

 

2  pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

矽肺病

There are a number of very long words in the medical and science fields, and one that has our jaw on the floor is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (that’s 45 characters). This word—apparently invented in 1935 to be deliberately long in mockery of long medical words—is the name of an occupational lung disease resulting from inhaling crystalline silica dust (pneumoconiosis).

在医学和科学领域有很多很长的单词，其中有一个让我们惊讶的单词是pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis(有45个字符)。这个词显然是在1935年发明的，是对冗长的医学词汇的嘲弄，是一种因吸入结晶硅粉尘而导致的职业性肺病的名称。（尘肺病）

 

3  pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism

假性甲状旁腺功能减退

We include pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism, another medical science term, because this one is considered the longest non-fabricated word to appear in major dictionaries. Pseudo- is a combining form meaning "false, pretended, unreal." 

我们把另一个医学术语“假性甲状旁腺功能减退”包括在内，因为它被认为是主流词典中出现的最长的非虚构词。Pseudo-是一个合成词，意为“假的、假装的、不真实的”。

You might notice the appearance of pseudo- twice. That’s because this disorder simulates the symptoms of pseudohypoparathyroidism, in which the body doesn't respond to the parathyroidhormone. So, there are two levels of "faking it" going on here.

你可能会注意到pseudo-出现了两次。这是因为这种疾病模拟了假性甲状旁腺功能减退的症状，即身体对甲状旁腺激素没有反应。所以，有两个"假装"含义的原因在这里。

 

4  incomprehensibilities

不可理解

At 21 characters, one of the longest words you might actually use yourself is incomprehensibilities.

在有21个字母的单词中，最长的单词之一就是“incomprehensibilities”。

We define incomprehensible as “impossible to comprehend or understand,” so incomprehensibilitiesare "things you can't comprehend." Comprende?

我们把不可理解的定义为“无法理解”，所以不可理解的事是“你无法理解的事情”。你明白吗？

 

5  uncopyrightables

无法获得版权的项目

If you look closely at the spelling, you’ll notice a peculiar thing about this word with 16 letters. It does not repeat any letter; each character is used only once. 

如果你仔细观察这个词的拼写，你会发现它的16个字母有一个奇特的地方。它没有重复任何字母；每个字母只使用一次。

One of the longest isograms is subdermatoglyphic, at 17 characters. But, since subdermatoglyphic (dermatoglyphics studies the patterns of skin markings on the hands and feet) is a bit scientific and certainly not one that is used often, we’re spotlighting uncopyrightables instead, because it's one we can all remember. It means, of course, "items that are unable to be copyrighted."

最长的字母不重复单词之一是subdermatoglyphic，有17个字母。但是，由于肤纹(皮肤纹理学研究手和脚上的皮肤标记模式)具有科学性，而且肯定不是经常使用的，所以我们转而关注uncopyrightables，因为它是我们都能记住的。当然，它的意思是“无法获得版权的项目”。

 

6  uncharacteristically

反常地

There are a few words in the 20-plus-letter range that are not scientific or coined to be long, but they exist: counterrevolutionaries and deinstitutionalization, to name two. One actually common one is uncharacteristically, which means "in the manner of something that is not typical of a particular person or thing" .

在字母个数为20个以上的单词中，有几个词既不科学，也不长，但它们确实存在：比如反革命分子和去机构化。一个实际上很常见的词是uncharacteristically，意思是“以不寻常的方式做某事”。

 

7  Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

查尔戈格加戈格曼乔加戈格乔布纳根加莫格

Take a dip into Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. Seriously. That’s 58 characters, and is thought to be the longest placename in the US.  Located in Webster, Massachusetts, it also answers to ... Webster Lake.

在查尔戈格加戈格曼乔加戈格乔布纳根加莫格湖中游一游。严肃地说，这个单词有58个字母，被认为是美国最长的地名。它位于马萨诸塞州的韦伯斯特，也被叫作韦伯斯特湖。