Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft is a compound word that serves as an example of the virtually unlimited compounding of nouns that is possible in many Germanic languages. According to the 1996 "Guinness Book of World Records", it is the longest word published in the German language.
List of German dictionaries
This list includes notable historic, standardized and common use dictionaries of the German language. The beginnings of German dictionaries date back to a series of glossaries from the 8th century CE. The first comprehensive German dictionary, the "Deutsches Wörterbuch" (DWB), was begun by the Brothers Grimm in 1838. The "Duden" dictionary, begun in 1880 and now in its 25th edition, is currently the prescriptive source for the spelling of German. The official dictionary for Austrian German, the "Österreichisches Wörterbuch" (ÖWB), is published by the Austrian Federal Government and is now in its 41st edition.