What is the longest German word?

German language is known for its long words, especially in the common technical and scientific language.

Sometimes they’re so long that they make it to the Guinness Book of World Records!

Here are the examples of the longest words in German:

Fußbodenschleifmaschinenverleih (31 letters)

Meaning: shop that lends floor sanding machines

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän (41 letters)          

Meaning: Danube steamship company captain

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungs-                  -gesetz (63 letters)                                                                                                                

Meaning: law for the delegation of monitoring beef labelling – this is the the longest “authentic” word in the German language.

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunter-         -beamtengesellschaft  (79 letters)                                                          

Meaning:

Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services. This word is listed in the Guinness book of records. It allegedly was a suborganization of the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (DDSG) in pre-war Vienna (Austria) a shipping company for transporting passengers and cargo on the Danube. The DDSG still exists today in the form of the now private companies DDSG-Blue Danube Schiffahrt GmbH (passenger transport) and the DDSG-Cargo GmbH. However, there is no evidence that the suborganization ever existed.

The kind of soup where you have a tree, a house, a submarine and a railroad beaten up and mixed into a combination that is harder to pronounce than Rumpelstiltskin’s surname.

So in this article we’ll look at some of the longest words in German and while you are navigating between stammering and biting your tongue, try to appreciate Germans for their enormous ways of showing love.

Let’s go…

This is the longest German word I have seen so far

1. SozialversicherungsfachangestelltenauszubildenderA very long German word with 49 letters

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2. MassenkommunikationsdienstleistungsunternehmenAlso a long German word with 46 letters

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This word stands for ‘companies providing mass communication services’.

When you are starting your first business, it might help to post that you are looking for affordable ‘massenkommunikationsdienstleistungsunternehmen’.

Do that and then step back and wait for the responses.

These words are long and daunting, and that is exactly why I designed the TPRS method in a way that will get you speaking German fluently without having to remember such words.

3. Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung(41 letters)

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With the typical Germans’ regard for laws, we couldn’t possibly exhaust this list without touching on a regulation.

And so, the above word means ‘regulation requiring the prescription for an aesthetic’.

I guess soon we will be seeing a word to mean ‘regulation for people using the U-bahn to walk faster and avoid stepping on each other’.

4. Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften(39 letters – longest word in German in everyday use)

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According to the Guinness World Record, this is the longest German word in everyday use.

It means ‘insurance companies providing legal protection’.

Now you know what search term to use if you are planning a trip to Germany and need more than just travel insurance.

5. Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung(36 letters)

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We have another insurance term on the list, ‘Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung (or a little easier ‘Kfz-Haftpflichtversicherung‘, which means ‘motor vehicle liability insurance’.

This, fortunately, is much easier on the tongue and will come in handy when you are talking to the customer care attendants at BMW or Mercedes.

6. Arbeiterunfallversicherungsgesetz(33 letters)

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In English, there is something called ‘worker’s liability insurance’, which compensates workers in case of injuries or accidents at work.

In Germany, that type of insurance is governed by the ‘occupational accident insurance law‘ which is called ‘Arbeiterunfallversicherungsgesetz’.

It is because of this (almost) daunting word that you can work in Germany knowing that if you are sick when working, the government has got you.

7. Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit(31 letters)

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The man in the photo seems to enjoy what he’s doing, so he’s not suffering from ‘Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit’.

But what does this mean?

It means ‘food intolerant’.

It’s a combination of the words ‘Nahrungsmittel’ and ‘Unverträglichkeit’, as if they weren’t difficult enough by themselves! Yes, long words in German can even be combined.

8. Unabhängigkeitserklärung(25 letters)

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Everyone loves a spectacular show of fireworks.

That’s why many countries showcase fireworks to celebrate their independence.

But we Germans, decided to save time and came up with ‘Unabhängigkeitserklärung‘ to mean ‘declaration of independence’ and then spend the saved time creating another long German word, so we could save even more time and then spend it creating an even longer word.

9. Streichholzschächtelchen(24 letters)

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This tongue-twisting word has actually been shortened. Its full wording is ‘Tschechisches-Streichholzschächtelchen’ which simply means ‘Czech match box’.

Can you believe that?

Tell me you don’t want to punch someone in the face right now.

By the way, we Germans even have a word for a face that desperately needs a punch. We call this face a ‘Backpfeifengesicht‘.

Ok, let’s break the first word down:

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• Die Streichholzschachtel – matchbox
• Das Streichholz – a match
• streichen – to stroke
• Das Holz – the wood
• Die Schachtel – box

So we attach all those words to make one word, and we are off to the races!

Yeah… another dose of German efficiency!

10. Freundschaftsbeziehungen(23 letters)

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If you were to translate this word directly to English it would be ‘friendship relationship’, which makes no sense.

I mean friendship is already a type of relationship, right?

So this not-so-long German word actually means ‘demonstration of friendship’.

I know…I know…we weren’t going to close this without a classic German toast were we?

I mean it’s only fair after such a grueling torment by unearthly long German words, right?

But super long German words are not all there is…

We have already seen that Germans can easily come up with an eye-popping laser-focused ultra-specific word to mean something like ‘big brown leather shoes with a torn rubber sole and mismatching laces.’

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