The Longest Words in Spanish: Learn 65+ Linguistic Giants

Spanish has some tiny one-letter words, like a (to) and o (or).

But if you’re looking for a challenge, the language also has some 20+ letter behemoths to discover!

In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into the longest Spanish words, from official monstrous words to colloquial creations. Plus, we’ll discover lengthy linguistic marvels in the form of verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Try not to tie your tongue in a knot pronouncing these!

Contents

• Longest Official Word in Spanish: Electroencefalografistas
• Longest Colloquial Word in Spanish:  Hipopotomonstrosesquipedaliofobia
• More Super Long Words in Spanish
• • Esternocleidooccipitomastoideos
  • Anticonstitucionalmente
  • Contrarrevolucionario
  • Desproporcionadamente
  • Internacionalización
  • Inconmensurablemente
  • Desoxirribonucleico
  • Desafortunadamente
  • Trascendentalmente
  • Despampanantemente
  • Multiculturalismo
  • Retroalimentación
  • Trastornadamente
  • Enajenadamente
  • Quincuagésimo
• Longest Verbs in Spanish
• Longest Adjectives and Adverbs in Spanish
• Longest Spanish Words Without Vowels
• And One More Thing…

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Longest Official Word in Spanish: Electroencefalografistas

Letters: 24

Definition: Medical terms tend to be on the lengthy side in any language, and this word is the plural form of a specialist in electroencephalography (the study and interpretation of brain waves produced from an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine).

You’ll notice that there are some even longer words in the list below, but this is the longest word that you’ll find in a typical dictionary. It’s also the official answer according to the Real Academia Española (RAE), the institution that (literally) wrote the book about the Spanish language.

Longest Colloquial Word in Spanish:  Hipopotomonstrosesquipedaliofobia

Letters: 33

Definition: This word means “fear of long words.” While you might not use hipopotomonstrosesquipedaliofobia in everyday conversation, this is the longest unofficial word in the Spanish language. As the joke goes, the fear of long words is called “sesquipedalophobia” in English, which in itself is a ridiculously long word. Spanish took this a step further by coining a silly version of the word, making it even longer by combining a few other words:

• Hipopótamo (hippopotamus)
• Monstruo (monster)
• Sesquipedali (derived from the Latin word “sesquipedalis,” which means “a foot and a half long” and is often used to describe long words)
• Fobia (phobia, or fear)

Put them together and you get hipopotomonstrosesquipedaliofobia, the exaggerated way of saying “fear of long words.” Hopefully, you don’t suffer from this fear, because I’m just getting started with these lengthy Spanish words!

More Super Long Words in Spanish

Esternocleidooccipitomastoideos

Letters: 31

Definition: This is the plural of esternocleidooccipitomastoideo, which is called sternocleidomastoid in English. This is the muscle in your neck that allows you to rotate your head. 

Anticonstitucionalmente

Letters: 23

Definition: This adverb can be split up into three parts:

• anti- (anti, against)
• -constitucional- (constitutional)
• -mente (ending that implies the word is an adverb)

As a whole word, anticonstitucionalmente means “unconstitutionally,” or in a way that goes against the constitution.

Contrarrevolucionario

Letters: 21

Definition: This long Spanish word means “counterrevolutionary,” which sounds like an oxymoron. It refers to a person who advocates a revolution that opposes a previous revolution. Traditionally, it was used to refer to opposers of the 1789 French revolution.

Desproporcionadamente

Letters: 21

Definition: This is an adverb that means “disproportionately.” There are some more extremely long adverbs later in this post if you want to learn some more!

Internacionalización

Letters: 20

Definition: When a product or service is extended to other countries, it’s referred to as internacionalización (internationalization).

Inconmensurablemente

Letters: 20

Definition: Inconmensurablemente means “immeasurably,” or in a manner that can’t be measured or compared.

Desoxirribonucleico

Letters: 19

Definition: You’ll probably recognize this word better in English: Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA). That’s right, desoxirribonucleico, shortened to ADN in Spanish, is the little bit in your cells that carries your genetic information!

Desafortunadamente

Letters: 18

Definition: This one means “unfortunately.” As you can tell from the -mente ending, this is another adverb.

Trascendentalmente

Letters: 18

Definition: This word means “transcendentally,” or  in a way that goes beyond physical existence.

Despampanantemente

Letters: 18

Definition: This one translates to “breathtakingly.” It refers to something done in a stunning or striking manner.

Multiculturalismo

Letters: 17

Definition: This word refers to the coexistence of different cultural groups, aka multiculturalism.

Retroalimentación

Letters: 17

Definition: Feedback, or the process of providing information that helps regulate or a system.

Trastornadamente

Letters: 16

Definition: In a disordered or disturbed manner.

Enajenadamente

Letters: 14

Definition: In a mentally disturbed or deranged manner.

Quincuagésimo

Letters: 13

Definition: Fiftieth, denoting the ordinal number equivalent to 50.

Longest Verbs in Spanish

Some Spanish verbs are pretty lengthy! Here are a few of the longest examples:

• Desensibilizaríamos (19 letters) — Conditional, first-person plural form of the verb desensibilizar (to desensitize).
• Sobresimplifiquemos  (18 letters) — Present subjunctive, first-person plural form of the verb sobresimplificar (to oversimplify).
• Contrarrestaríamos (17 letters) — Conditional, first person plural form of Contrarrestar. (to counteract)
• Desestabilizáramos  (16 letters) — Imperfect subjunctive, first-person plural form of the verb desestabilizar (to destabilize).
• Desconsolidaríamos  (16 letters) — Conditional, first-person plural form of the verb desconsolidar (to weaken or break down).
• Desarrollaríamos (15 letters) — Conditional, first person plural of desarrollar (to develop).

Longest Adjectives and Adverbs in Spanish

Adjectives in Spanish can be pretty long on their own:

• Desproporcionado (16 letters) — Disproportionate
• Ininterrumpible  (16 letters) — Uninterruptible
• Inconstitucional  (16 letters) — Unconstitutional
• Incomprensible  (14 letters) — Incomprehensible
• Extraordinario (14 letters) — Extraordinary
• Sobresaliente  (13 letters) — Outstanding
• Trascendental  (13 letters) — Transcendental
• Irreprochable  (13 letters) — Impeccable
• Desalentadora  (13 letters) — Discouraging

But adverbs are often even longer! That’s because in many cases, adverbs are formed by taking the feminine version of an adjective and adding -mente to it. You add five letters to each of the above adjectives by turning them into adverbs:

• Desproporcionado  → Desproporcionadomente (21 letters)
• Ininterrumpible → Ininterrumpidamente (19 letters)
• Inconstitucional  → Inconstitucionalmente (21 letters)
• Incomprensible →  Incomprensiblemente (19 letters)
• Extraordinario  → Extraordinariamente (19 letters)
• Sobresaliente →  Sobresalientemente (18 letters)
• Trascendental  →  Trascendentalmente (18 letters)
• Irreprochable  → Irreprochablemente (18 letters)
• Desalentadora  → Desalentadoramente (18 letters)

The more time you spend with Spanish, the more patterns like these you’ll uncover! Listen out for more super long adjectives and their even longer adverb versions through Spanish content. Authentic Spanish media is the best way to learn more long words—ones that Spanish speakers actually use! If you’re not sure where to start with authentic content, FluentU is a good resource to turn to.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

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Longest Spanish Words Without Vowels

Here’s the longest word in Spanish that has no vowels:

Y — And

Wow, that might be the longest word I’ve ever seen!

Okay, in all seriousness, unlike English, which has crazy vowelless words like “rhythm” and “gypsy,” Spanish doesn’t have any words without vowels. That’s because the English words rely on the letter y’s status as a “sometimes vowel” to make the vowel sound that you need in order to actually pronounce words.

Without the letter y, which is technically not a vowel, you’d be left with unpronounceable letter jumbles like rhthm and gps.

Spanish doesn’t cheat and use the letter y to make vowel sounds, and so every word has at least one vowel.

Be on the lookout for even more long Spanish words in your Spanish learning journey.

And if you’re interested in huge words in other languages, you can check out the longest words in English and Russian, too!

And One More Thing…

If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.

Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.

FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:

FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.

Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.

The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)