Remembering the 45-letter English word

Because this entry was previously sucked by a mysterious black hole and because I can’t let go of this word (that I memorized by heart), I’m trying to recreate it through this post.

Dear Kotsengkuba,

I know that you have memorized the spelling, pronunciation and even the definition of the longest English word by heart. However, let me reiterate Wikipedia’s definition of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust found in volcanoes’ but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word.”[1]. It was coined to serve as the longest English word and is the longest word ever to appear in an English language dictionary. This 45-letter word, referred to as P45[2], first appeared in the 1939 supplement to the Merriam-Webster New International Dictionary, Second Edition[3]. It is listed in the current edition of several dictionaries.[4] A condition meeting the word’s definition is normally called silicosis.

Now you have a little bit more information about your favorite English word to date aside from your memorized definition: A lung disease common to miners due to inhalation of silica dust.

Regards,

Your genius alter-ego