floccinaucinihilipilification
English
Etymology
Latin floccus (“a wisp”) + naucum (“a trifle”) + nihilum (“nothing”) + pilus (“a hair”) + -fication
A jocular coinage, apparently by pupils at Eton College,[1] combining a number of Latin word stems. The word was inspired by a line present in various editions of William Lily's (c. 1468–1522) Latin grammars published around the 17th–19th centuries (including the Eton Latin Grammar),[2][3][4] in which some nouns commonly used in the genitive case with some verbs like pendo and facio are listed, which express evaluating something as worthless or as previously mentioned:
"Flócci of a lock of wool, náuci of a nut-shell, níhili of nóthing, píli of a hair, ássis of a pénny, hújus of this, terúncii of a fárthing, addúntur are ádded, peculiáritèr pecúliarly or véry próperly vérbis to verbs æstimándi of esteéming."
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌflɒksɪˌnɔːsɪˌnaɪhɪlɪˌpɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, /ˌflɒksiˌnɒsiˌnɪhɪlɪˌpɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (UK): (file)
- Hyphenation: flocci‧nauci‧ni‧hili‧pili‧fi‧ca‧tion
Noun
floccinaucinihilipilification (uncountable)
- (often humorous) The act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant, of having no value or being worthless.
- 1741, William Shenstone, Letters:
- I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money.
- 1970, Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander:
- There is a systematic flocci-nauci-nihili-pilification of all other aspects of existence that angers me.
- 2000, Raymond J. Chambers, Logic, Law, and Ethics[3]:
- Floccinaucinihilipilification in accounting - does it matter?
- 2006, Sol Steinmetz, The life of language[4]:
- They must be taken with an air of contempt, a floccinaucinihilipilification of all that can gratify the outward man.
- 2009, Judith Orloff, Emotional Freedom[5]:
- Some people with low self-esteem are prone to floccinaucinihilipilification, the habit of deeming everything worthless.
- 2011, Bruce Ratner, Statistical and Machine-Learning Data Mining[6]:
- The quasi statistician would doubtlessly not know how to check this supposition, thus rendering the interpretation of the mean profit as floccinaucinihilipilification.
- 2012 February 21, Jacob Rees-Mogg, parliamentary debates[7], column 787:
- Let me indulge in the floccinaucinihilipilification of EU judges and quote from the book of Amos about them.
Related terms
Translations
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Trivia
- Often cited as the longest non-technical word in the English language, being one letter longer than the well-known antidisestablishmentarianism. It was the longest word ever recorded in Parliament after Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg used it in a 2012 debate, until the record was broken in 2017 by Michael Bryan with the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Dot Wordsworth (2011 June 11) “Mind your language”, in The Spectator[1], London: Press Holdings, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-06-13
- ^ R. R. (1641) An Engliſh Grammar: Or, A plain Expoſition of Lilie's Grammar, London: […] Felix Kyngston […], page 107
- ^ Lilies Rules Construed, […], London: […] Roger Norton, […], 1659, page 54, column 1
- ^ T. W. C. Edwards (1826) “Syntaxis, or the Rules of Grammar Construed”, in The Eton College Grammar: A Plain and Concise Introduction to the Latin Language, being Lily's Grammar Abridged, […], London: […] W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, […], page 269
- ^ David Shariatmadari (2017 July 31) “Want to sound cleverer than Jacob Rees-Mogg? Here are five long words to drop into conversation”, in The Guardian[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-20: “Michael Bryan's use of "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" in a select committee meeting means floccinaucinihilipilification's reign – it has been a mere five years since Rees-Mogg said it during a Commons debate – is over.”
Further reading
- floccinaucinihilipilification on Wikiquote.Wikiquote