anecdote
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English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]- anecdota (only attested in the plural (anecdotae), probably non-standard)
- anecdoton (Grecian)
- anecdotum (rare, Latinate)
Etymology
[edit]Late 17th c., from French anecdote, from Ancient Greek ἀνέκδοτος (anékdotos, “accounts unpublished”), from ἀν- (an-, “not, un-”) + ἔκδοτος (ékdotos, “published”), from ἐκδίδωμι (ekdídōmi, “I publish”), from ἐκ- (ek-, “out”) + δίδωμι (dídōmi, “I give”).
Virtually identical cognates in other European languages – French anecdote, German Anekdote, Spanish anécdota, among others.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈæ.nɪk.doʊt/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: a‧nec‧dote
Noun
[edit]anecdote (countable and uncountable, plural anecdotes)
- A short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting.
- tell an anecdote
- relate a short anecdote
- 1839, “Commercial Travellers”, in The Merchants’ Magazine, and Commercial Review, volume I, New York, N.Y.: Freeman Hunt, […], pages 30–31:
- Like all travellers, he is full of anecdote, and has at his command the rarest news of the time. […] Generous, convivial, and full of anecdote, the mercantile agent is a good companion, and his conversation never fails to make glad and jocund the society of that otherwise dullest of places, an English stage coach.
- An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis.
- A previously untold secret account of an incident.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]short account of an incident
|
previously untold, secret account of an incident
Verb
[edit]anecdote (third-person singular simple present anecdotes, present participle anecdoting, simple past and past participle anecdoted)
- (transitive, intransitive) To tell anecdotes (about).
- 1879, Eustace Clare Grenville Murray, That Artful Vicar:
- They were all men of the same set, knowing one another intimately, and knowing the same people; so they fell to talking and anecdoting in such pleasant wise that dinner-time approached […]
- 1986, Elliot L. Gilbert, Best Short Stories from the California Quarterly, 1971-1985, page 101:
- Bob anecdoted the circus he and Jimmy had seen that afternoon.
Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]anecdote f (plural anecdotes)
Descendants
[edit]- → Dutch: anekdote
- → Indonesian: anekdot
- → English: anecdote
- → Norwegian Bokmål: anekdote
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: anekdote
- → Polish: anegdota
- → Portuguese: anedota
- → Russian: анекдо́т (anekdót) (see there for further descendants)
- → Spanish: anécdota
- → Swedish: anekdot
- → Turkish: anekdot
Further reading
[edit]- “anecdote”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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