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Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis ( listen (help·info), also spelled -koniosis) is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.’ A condition meeting the word’s definition is normally called silicosis.
It occurs chiefly as an instance of a very long word.[1] The 45-letter word was coined to serve as the longest English word and is the longest word ever to appear in an English language dictionary. It is listed in the current edition of several dictionaries.[2]
This disease is classified into four types. Of asymptomatic, acute, accelerated and chronic, the chronic form is the most common. It develops only after years of exposure to low levels of silica dust. (Also known as black lung disease)
After inhalation, the dust embeds itself in the lungs’ alveolar sacs. In response, white blood cells release cytokines, stimulating fibroblasts and resulting in fibrosis.
Symptoms include hyperventilation, coughing, dysphonia, anorexia, chest pain and increased susceptibility to tuberculosis.
No cure for the disease is known. Treatments include reducing exposure to particulates, chest physiotherapy, cough suppressants, antibiotics, antitubercular agents, and lung transplantation.[3]
This word was invented in 1935 by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzlers’ League, at its annual meeting. The word figured in the headline for an article published by the New York Herald Tribune on February 23, 1935 titled “Puzzlers Open 103d Session Here by Recognizing 45-Letter Word”:
Subsequently, the word was used in a puzzle book, Bedside Manna, after which members of the NPL campaigned to have it included in major dictionaries.[4]
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