Germany dumps its longest word after 63letter tongue-twister abt beef regulation

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertrag-ungsgesetz has officially ceased to exist

it Refers to the 'law for the delegation of monitoring beef labelling'
Repealed after EU lifted recommendation to test healthy cows for BSE
Experts say it is the longest 'authentic' word in the German language

Germany is notorious for lengthy compound nouns, many of which are gradually whittled down to abbreviations when they become impractically extensive. Germans simply add extra concepts to existing words, meaning that, in theory, a word could become never-ending.

 Linguistics expert Professor Anatol Stefanowitsch, from the Free University of Berlin, told German news agency dpa the word was the longest 'authentic' word in the German language.
 
It is recognised by linguists because it crops up in official texts, although it was never an entry in the German dictionary, which includes words based on their frequency of use.

 At 36 letters, Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung - motor vehicle liability insurance -  is thought to be the longest German word with an entry in the dictionary.
 
The Oxford Dictionary of English can top that; pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - which describes 'an artificial long word said to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling a very fine ash and sand dust' - has 45 letters.



You're reading one version of the story. 10 AIs read it differently. See the consensus. → drux.space/chat