The Portuguese term "pneumoultramicroscopicossilicovulcanoconiótico" is cited as one of the longest words in Portuguese, referring to a lung condition caused by inhaling very fine volcanic silica dust and commonly listed with a length of about 46 letters.
What the word means
The word derives from roots meaning lung (pneumo), extremely small (ultramicroscopic), silica (silico), volcano (vulcano) and a disease suffix (coniose), together describing a pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of fine volcanic or silicate particles. The adjective form describes someone affected by that condition.
Orthography and length
Different sources transcribe the Portuguese form with slight orthographic variants and report lengths around the mid‑forties in letters. Language resources and dictionaries that list the term treat it as a technical or coinage translation of the well‑known English nonce word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which itself appears in major dictionaries as a famously long word.
Usage and status
The term is primarily a technical, dictionary or novelty entry rather than a commonly used clinical label, with medical practice favouring established diagnoses such as silicosis or pneumoconiosis. Its notoriety stems from its length and construction rather than frequent clinical application.
Takeaway
This unusually long Portuguese word illustrates how agglutinative formation from Greek and Latin roots can produce record‑length technical terms and how lexicographers list such coinages for interest, translation and completeness in reference works.