Longest Word Using Periodic Table Symbols 2


The longest word starts with N for Nitrogen.

The longest word starts with N for Nitrogen.

Can you name the longest word made using periodic table symbols for the chemical elements?

The answer in English is nonrepresentationalisms. This word is 23 letters long.

Nonrepresentationalisms can be written with element symbols the following ways:

N O N Re P Re Se N Ta Ti O Na Li Sm S

No N Re P Re Se N Ta Ti O N Al I Sm S

N O N Re P Re Se N Ta Ti O N Al I Sm S

No N Re P Re Se N Ta Ti O Na Li Sm S

Although not found in all dictionaries, an even longer word (29 letters) is:

Floccinaucinihilipilification

This word refers to the act of valuing something as worthless. One way to write this word using element symbols is:

Fl O C C In Au C I Ni H I Li P I Li F I Ca Ti O N

While not a “real” word, supercalifragilistic may be written with the symbols:

S U P Er Ca Li Fr Ag I Li S Ti C

Longest Word Using Different Element Symbols

The longest word that can be spelled without re-using any element symbols is:

Ir Re S P O N Si BI Li Ti Es

Examples of other long words made using periodic table symbols are:

H Y Po Th Al Am I Co H Y Po P H Y Si Al (24 letters)
This is technically longer than nonrepresentationalism, but it is written as a hyphenated word hypothalamico-hypophysial or hypothalamico-hypophyseal, so it probably doesn’t count.

H Y P Er Co N Sc I O U Sn Es Se S (20 letters)

H Y P Er Co Ag U La Bi Li Ti Es (20 letters)

Word with the Most Element Symbols

A related fact is the word that contains the most element symbols. This is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a lung disease you can get from inhaling volcanic dust. While the word cannot be spelled only using periodic table symbols, it does contain 14 element symbols in it:

P – Phosphorous
N – Nitrogen
U – Uranium
Mo – Molybdenum
N – Nitrogen
O – Oxygen
C – Carbon
Sc – Scandium
I – Iodine
Si – Silicon
Co – Cobalt
V – Vanadium
Ca – Calcium
No – Nobelium

Funny Answers to the Longest Word Question

I N F In I Te in element tiles

I N F In I Te in element tiles

In addition to serious answers to the question, “What is the longest word made using periodic table element symbols?” there are several humorous answers. Basically, instead of looking for the word using the most letter, use the word that means the longest distance (“longest” word):

  • YArD – Three feet long or about a meter.
  • PArSeC – A parsec is about 3.26 lightyears or the distance light travels in 3.26 years.
  • INFInITe – You can get much longer than an infinite distance!

 


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2 thoughts on “Longest Word Using Periodic Table Symbols

  • Zakaria shenwari

    We have chemistry week in school starts tomorrow and there r different competitions so this help me much about the competitions

  • rob mahon

    I love the pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis challenge, but you seem to have left out quite a few elements.
    Eu= Europium
    Ra= Radium
    Am= Americium
    Cr= Chromium
    Os= Osmium
    Cs = Caesium
    Li= Lithium
    NI= Nickel
    S= Sulfur
    These take the total number of element in that word from 14 to 23