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Cake day: July 6th, 2024

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  • The longest officially used German word was:

    Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

    (63 letters)

    Translation:

    “Beef labeling monitoring delegation law”

    This was the name of a law in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It referred to the delegation of tasks related to monitoring beef labeling, especially relevant during the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis. The law was abolished in 2013.


    But German allows theoretically endless compound words. A classic (but not officially used) example is:

    Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft

    (80 letters)

    Translation:

    “Association of subordinate officials of the main building for electrical services of the Danube steamship company”

    This is a joke word created to illustrate how German compounds work. It’s not used in real life, but it’s popular in linguistic discussions and trivia.