Word.ws English Dictionary

hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian

/ˌhɪpəˌpɒtəˌmɒnstɹəˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən/

hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian adjective: of or pertaining to extremely long words.

Adjective

hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (comparative more hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, superlative most hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian)

  1. Of or pertaining to extremely long words.
    • To indulge in hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian tergiversation is not to show your erudition: rather, it is to be superficial.1997, Steven George Krantz, A primer of mathematical writing
    • And when it comes to language, short, simple words often have more impact and power than multisyllabic, hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian ones.2005, Greg Vaughn, Fred Holmes, Letters from Dad

Forms of hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian

comparativemore hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
superlativemost hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian

Origin of hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian

An extension of sesquipedalian using a modified form of hippopotamus and Latin monstrum, with the extensions almost certainly chosen with the intention of making the new construct autological.

Questions about hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian

What does hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian mean?
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian means of or pertaining to extremely long words.
What part of speech is hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian?
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian is an adjective.
How do you pronounce hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian?
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian is pronounced /ˌhɪpəˌpɒtəˌmɒnstɹəˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən/.

Words near hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian in the dictionary

  1. Hippopotamus Defence
  2. Hippopotamus Defences
  3. hippopotamuses
  4. hippopotamuslike
  5. hippopotamusses
  6. hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
  7. hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism
  8. hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianisms
  9. hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
  10. hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
  11. hippos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.