German
In German, whole numbers (smaller than 1 million) are expressed as single words, which makes siebenhundertsiebenundsiebzigtausendsiebenhundertsiebenundsiebzig (777,777) a 65 letter word. In combination with -fach or, as a noun, (das ...) -fache, all numbers are written as one word. A 79 letter word, Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, was named the longest published word in the German language by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, but longer words are possible. The word refers to a division of an Austrian steam-powered shipping company named the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft which transported passengers and cargo on the Danube. The longest word that is not created artificially as a longest-word record seems to be Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz at 63 letters.
The longest known word that is not a compound word seems to be the 23 letter word Unkameradschaftlichkeit. It uses only derivations.
Read more about this topic: Longest Words
Famous quotes containing the word german:
“Boys hide in lunging cubes
Crouching to explode,
Beyond the Atlantic skies,
With cheerful cries
Their barking tubes
Upon the German toad.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“Better extirpate the whole breed, root and branch. And this, unless the German people come to their senses, is what we propose to do.”
—Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948)
“The German language “speaks Being,” while all the others merely “speak of Being.””
—Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)