What does pneumonoultramicroscopicsilico-volcanoconiosis mean?


(The entire word will not display in either the question box or 

answer unless a hyphen is used.) 
It is a lung disease, similar to 'black lung' usually acquired 


by miners. It is caused by extremely microscopic silica 

getting into the lungs. Literally the word means: 'a lung 

disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust 

usually found in volcanoes'. 

The term (more simply called pneumoconiosis, related to 


silicosis) is 


pneumonoultramicroscopicsilico-volcanoconiosis (no 

hyphen) 

and was created in 1935 to be 'the world's longest English 

word".

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