Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word to occur in authoritative unabridged dictionaries in both the English and American versions. It was recognized as such by the National Puzzlers League in 1935. Looking deeper into it, it appears to be contrived to BE the longest word to end the bickering over what was THE longest word.
www.askoxford.com calls it a factitious word
According to www.yourdictionary.com it has never been used. However, I have found it used in a piece about black lung disease, normally contracted by coal miners.
(http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/NH_Zoo_Magnet/power_trip/nonrenewable_resources.html)
Whether or not it was contrived is beside the point. Most words in Biology are "contrived", formulated to describe the new found plant, animal, disease, what have you in the name itself.
Biology is replete with words that don't seem to make much sense unless you dissect the words as you would a frog in your highschool Bio lab.
Taking the tweezers to this "frog" will give you...(aka whipping out good ole Webster)
Pneumon....meaning lung
ultra.....beyond,extremely
microscopic....so small as to be invisibile to the naked eye
silico...pertaining to silica...a hard, glassy mineral found in quartz, sand, and other forms
volcano (from volcanus)...the vent in the earth's crust through which molten rock, ashes, etc are ejected
coni...fine particles like dust
osis...a condition or action
It's a condition of the lungs brought on by inhaling extremely fine volcanic silicate particles.
It is the finest dust that sneaks past the nose, mouth, throat into the alveoli within the lungs. The macrophages try to clear it out (coughing up black gunk) but eventually get bogged down. It collects within the alveoli over time coating and hampering the flow of oxygen from lungs to the blood. It is primarily associated with working in coal mines. It is a slow-acting, chronic disease that takes many years to cause symptoms.
Symptoms include
- black spittle
- coughing
- breathlessness
- black pigmentation of lungs
- Focal Emphasema
- Progressive scar tissue formation (fibrosis)
- Heart failure
- Emphysema
- chest pain
- wheezing
http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/aa021902a.htm
http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words11.html
http://medical.merriam-webster.com/medical/pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A24833397
http://www.wordways.com/biggest.htm