sesquipedalian
adjective

- using a lot of long words that most people do not understand

MacMillan Dictionary

- having many syllables

Merriam-Webster

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ORIGIN

Latin sesquipedalis, literally, a foot and a half long, from sesqui- + ped-, pes foot

Horace, the Roman poet known for his satire, was being gently ironic when he cautioned young poets against using “sesquipedalia verba” (words a foot and a half long) in his book Ars poetica, a collection of maxims about writing.

In the 17th century, English literary critics decided the word sesquipedalian could be very useful for denouncing writers using unnecessarily long words.

The Latin prefix sesqui- is used in modern English to mean “one and a half times,” as in “sesquicentennial” (a 150th anniversary).

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SYNONYMS

Ciceronian, convoluted, grandiloquent, fancy, flowery, highfalutin (US), high-sounding, oratorical, ostentatious, over-elaborate, polysyllabic, prolix, silver-tongued

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation today, say something like:

“Using words like SESQUIPEDALIAN in a sentence is itself SESQUIPEDALIAN.”

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