Esperanto
The longest official Esperanto roots are 12 letters long, shown here with added the substantive "-o" ending:
- administracio (administration),
- aŭtobiografio (autobiography),
- diskriminacii (to discriminate),
- konservatorio (conservatory),
- paleontologio (palaeontology),
- paralelogramo (parallelogram), and
- trigonometrio (trigonometry).
Since Esperanto allows word compounding, there are no limits on how long a word can theoretically become. A relatively short example is the 46-letter komencopaleontologiokonservatoriaĉestriĝontajn, which is an (accusative and plural) adjective that means "about to begin to become the leader of a contemptible palaeontology conservatory". (Such clusters are not considered good style, but are permissible under the rules of Esperanto grammar.)
Read more about this topic: Longest Words
Famous quotes containing the word esperanto:
“The new sound-sphere is global. It ripples at great speed across languages, ideologies, frontiers and races.... The economics of this musical esperanto is staggering. Rock and pop breed concentric worlds of fashion, setting and life-style. Popular music has brought with it sociologies of private and public manner, of group solidarity. The politics of Eden come loud.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)