supercalifragilisticexpialidociousとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

First attested (as supercaliflawjalisticexpialadoshus) in a 1931 Syracuse University Daily Orange column, which states that the word “implies all that is grand, great, glorious, splendid, superb, wonderful”. In this spelling, it was made famous by its use in a song of the same title in the movie Mary Poppins (1964), by songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman; they wrote in 1998:

When we were little boys in the mid-1930s, we went to a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains, where we were introduced to a very long word that had been passed down in many variations through many generations of kids. […] The word as we first heard it was super-cadja-flawjalistic-espealedojus.

Apparently a fanciful formation on super (compare super-), -ic, and -ious; various rationalizations of the other elements have been offered, but none supported by any evidence. One by American linguist Richard Lederer in his book Crazy English (1989) is super- (“above”) + cali- (“beauty”) + fragilistic- (“delicate”) + expiali- (“to atone”) + -docious (“educable”), the sum of which equals “atoning for extreme and delicate beauty [while being] highly educable”. This etymology is based on calli-, fragile, expiate, and docious (“amenable to order”) or docity (“quickness of comprehension”), from Latin doceō (“to teach”).

For the -docious ending, compare braggadocious (first attested in American English, in 1853), and more distantly, perhaps bodacious. The element -cali- may have been taken from California (especially in view of -califlawja- in the 1931 version). For -listic, compare (un)realistic.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌsuːpəˌkælɨˌfɹæd͡ʒɨˌlɪstɪkˌɛkspɪˌælɨˈdəʊʃəs/
• (General American) enPR: so͞o'pər-kăl'ĭ-fră'jĭ-lĭs'tĭk-ĕk'spē-ăl'ĭ-dōʹshəs, IPA: /ˌsupɚˌkælɪ̈ˌfɹæd͡ʒɪ̈ˌlɪstɪkˌɛkspiˌælɪ̈ˈdoʊʃəs/
• 韻: -əʊʃəs
• ハイフネーション: su‧per‧cal‧i‧frag‧i‧lis‧tic‧ex‧pi‧a‧li‧do‧cious

形容詞

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (not comparable)

1. (humorous) Fantastic, very wonderful.
   • 1964 August 27, Mary Poppins, spoken by Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews):

     It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

   • 2010 March 15, Rose Madeline Mula, The Beautiful People and Other Aggravations, Gretna: Pelican Publishing, →ISBN, →OL, page 91:

     By comparison with the present transcribers, I'm sure my performance would be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

   • 2011, Mary B. Allberry, I Ain't Done Yet, Victoria: FriesenPress, →ISBN, →OL, page 91:

     This is a real biggie so pay attention—I still pinch myself occasionally to even believe I did this; it was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

派生語

派生した語

• → Italian: supercalifragilistichespiralidoso
• → Spanish: supercalifragilisticoexpialidoso

豆知識

• Often cited as an example of a very long word.

参考

• antidisestablishmentarianism
• floccinaucinihilipilification
• dacryocystorhinostomy
• hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
• pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

参照

• “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.