What is the Longest Word in Croatian?

NZ – Reputed to be the longest place name in the world

The world’s longest known word according to the Guinness Book of Records is a compound ‘word’ of 195 Sanskrit characters (transliterating to 428 letters in the Roman alphabet) describing a region in India. How close is the longest word in Croatian to that record?

Well it is only 398 letters off. Officially the longest word in Croatian is the 30-letters long ‘prijestolonasljednikovičičinima’. Try saying that in one go.

Prijestolonasljednikovičičinima – which translates in English to “of little heiress apparent to the throne” in plural dative case.

Long words which include place names or numbers are not officially counted as the longest since one could form indefinitely long words in such way (e.g. 30 letters long sedamdesetsedmerogodišnjakinja what would mean “a 77-year-old woman”).

According to Wikipedia, the longest technical word in English is the scientific name for the protein titin, at 189,819 letters. Though lexicographers regard generic names of chemical compounds as verbal formulae rather than English words, for its sheer length it is often included in longest-word lists.

The 45-letter word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest English word that appears in a major dictionary. Originally coined to become a candidate for the longest word in English, the term eventually developed some independent use in medicine. It is referred to as “P45” by researchers.