Compound nouns. Or, why I love the German language.

In English, compound nouns usually consist of two words with a space between them, which, however, must be said together in order to get the proper meaning (ex: ice cream). German decided that all those extra spaces between words were really unnecessary and inefficient, and so started coming up with words such as "Haupteingang", which means main ("haupt") entrance ("eingang"). Sometimes German words just get ridiculous, as in the following 63-letter monster:

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz


That roughly translates to "beef labeling regulation and supervision delegation law." This word won the "German Word of the Year" prize in 1999, simultaneously taking top honors for the longest word. It is a real word, but of course never actually used in daily language, whether spoken or written. You would probably only encounter it if you were on the legal management team for a beef packing plant or something of that nature. German grammar allows for basically infinitely long words, so sometimes people just create words to try to make the "longest" word. Personally I think they should cap it at 40 letters, just so your head doesn't explode when looking at the words.

German also likes to make compound nouns for more complicated concepts by taking nouns that already exist in combining them in ways that very literally describe the object or idea you are trying to create a word for. For example, take mucous membranes. They're really just slimy skin, right? Congratulations, if you know the German words for slime (schleim) and skin (haut) you can now deduce the word for mucous membrane: Schleimhaut. Another good example from the medical field, and one of my personal favorites, is the word for sinuses (I had a sinus infection a few months ago, so I had to learn this). So sinuses are sort of like caves, or cavities, next to your nose. Hmm... nose = nase...next to = neben....cave/cavity = höhle -> -> -> I've got it! Nasennebenhöhlen! Do you have an infection of the cavities next to your nose? Then you have a Nasennebenhöhlenentzündung, and you better get to the pharmacy asap.