damn big word

damn big word

A recent post on Angry in the Great White North triggered a spate of enormous words in the comments, such as floccinaucinihilipilification and antidisestablishmentarianism and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Apparently all one has to do is state that a word is the biggest to make someone else come up with a bigger one. In the comments, Dr. Dawg came up with a word that was the biggest one I had ever seen to that point, 1185 letters long:

ACETYLSERYLTYROSYLSERYLISOLEUCYLTHREONYL-SERYLPROLYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLVALYL-PHENYLALANYLLEUCYLSERYLSERYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYL-ALANYLASPARTYLPROLYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYL-LEUCYLASPARAGINYLVALYLCYSTEINYLTHREONYLSERYL-SERYLLEUCYLGLYCYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYL-ALANYLGLUTAMINYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYL-ALANYLARGINYLTHREONYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLVALYL-GLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLSERYLGLUTAMINYL-VALYLTRYPTOPHYLLYSYLPROLYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYL-GLUTAMINYLSERYLTHREONYLVALYLARGINYLPHENYL-ALANYLPROLYLGLYCYLASPARTYLVALYLTYROSYLLYSYL-VALYLTYROSYLARGINYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLALANYL-VALYLLEUCYLASPARTYLPROLYLLEUCYLISOLEUCYL-THREONYLALANYLLEUCYLLEUCYLGLYCYLTHREONYLPHENYL-ALANYLASPARTYLTHREONYLARGINYLASPARAGINYLARGINYL-ISOLEUCYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLVALYLGLUTAMYL-ASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLSERYLPROLYL-THREONYLTHREONYLALANYLGLUTAMYLTHREONYLLEUCYL-ASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLARGINYLARGINYLVALYL-ASPARTYLASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLVALYLALANYL-ISOLEUCYLARGINYLSERYLALANYLASPARAGINYL-ISOLEUCYLASPARAGINYLLEUCYLVALYLASPARAGINYL-GLUTAMYLLEUCYLVALYLARGINYLGLYCYLTHREONYL-GLYCYLLEUCYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYL-ASPARAGINYLTHREONYLPHENYLALANYLGLUTAMYL-SERYLMETHIONYLSERYLGLYCYLLEUCYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYL-THREONYLSERYLALANYLPROLYLALANYLSERINE

I just couldn't believe it when I saw that word. So, I googled up the first few dozen letters, and sure enough, I found that word mentioned somewhere else. What I did not expect to find was an even bigger word:

methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamyl-serylleucylphenylalanylalanylglutaminylleucyl-lysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanyl-phenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylvalylthreonyl-leucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamyl-glutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartyl-threonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycyl-alanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycyl-isoleucylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylprolyl-leucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucyl-glutaminylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginyl-alanylphenylalanylalanylalanylglycylvalylthreonyl-prolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanyl-glutamylmethionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucyl-arginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonyl-isoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucyl-methionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalyl-phenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucyl-aspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyrosylalanyl-glutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycyl-valylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanyl-aspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamyl-serylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutaminyl-alanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginyl-valylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucyl-cysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylaspartyl-aspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminyl-isoleucylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyl-tyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginyl-alanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamyl-asparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolyl-leucylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyl-lysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginyl-alanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycyl-phenylalanylglycylisoleucylserylalanylprolyl-aspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanyl-isoleucylaspartylalanylglycylalanylalanyl-glycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanyl-isoleucylvalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamyl-glutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamyl-prolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanyl-leucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminyl-prolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine

This 1913-letter behemoth is the chemical name for the tryptophan synthetase A protein. I recorded myself pronouncing the word; saying it takes me 2 minutes and 45 seconds.

Is there an even bigger word out there?

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