anecdote

English

Alternative forms

• anecdota (only attested in the plural (anecdotae), probably non-standard)
• anecdoton (Grecian)
• anecdotum (rare, Latinate)

Etymology

Late 17^th c., from French anecdote, from Ancient Greek ἀνέκδοτος (anékdotos, “accounts unpublished”), from ἀν- (an-, “not, un-”) + ἔκδοτος (ékdotos, “published”), from ἐκδίδωμι (ekdídōmi, “I publish”), from ἐκ- (ek-, “out”) + δίδωμι (dídōmi, “I give”).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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæ.nɪk.doʊt/

• audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

anecdote (plural anecdotes)

1. A short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting.

   tell an anecdote

   relate a short anecdote

2. An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis.
3. A previously untold secret account of an incident.

Derived terms

• anecdotage
• anecdotal
• anecdotalism
• anecdotally
• anecdotard
• anecdotarian
• anecdoter
• anecdotic
• anecdotical
• anecdotish (rare)
• anecdotist
• anecdotive (rare)
• anecdotographer
• the plural of anecdote is not data

 

Translations

short account of an incident

• Albanian: anekdotë (sq) f
• Arabic: نَادِرَة‎ f (nādira), أُطْرُوفَة‎ f (ʾuṭrūfa), أُفْكُوهَة‎ f (ʾufkūha), طُرْفَة‎ f (ṭurfa), فُكَاهَة‎ f (fukāha), لَطِيفَة‎ (ar) f (laṭīfa)
• Armenian: անեկդոտ (hy) (anekdot)
• Azerbaijani: anekdot, lətifə (az)
• Belarusian: анекдо́т m (anjekdót), анэкдо́т m (anekdót)
• Bulgarian: анекдо́т (bg) m (anekdót)
• Catalan: anècdota f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逸事 (zh) (yìshì), 軼事 (zh), 轶事 (zh) (yìshì), 逸話 (zh), 逸话 (zh) (yìhuà)

• Czech: anekdota (cs) f
• Danish: anekdote (da) c
• Dutch: anekdote (nl) f
• Esperanto: anekdoto
• Estonian: anekdoot
• Finnish: anekdootti (fi), kasku (fi), juttu (fi), tarina (fi)
• French: anecdote (fr) f
• Georgian: ანეკდოტი (aneḳdoṭi)
• German: Anekdote (de) f
• Greek: ανέκδοτο (el) n (anékdoto)
• Hebrew: אַנֵקְדוֹטָה‎ (he) f (anekdóta)
• Hungarian: anekdota (hu)
• Icelandic: atvikssaga f, anekdóta f
• Ido: anekdoto (io)
• Indonesian: anekdot (id)
• Italian: aneddoto (it) m
• Japanese: 逸話 (ja) (いつわ, itsuwa)
• Kazakh: анекдот (anekdot), күлкілі әңгіме (külkılı äñgıme)
• Korean: 일화(逸話) (ko) (ilhwa)
• Kyrgyz: анекдот (anekdot)
• Latvian: anekdote f

• Lithuanian: anekdotas (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Anekdot
• Macedonian: анегдота f (anegdota)
• Malay: anekdot
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: онигоо (mn) (onigoo)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: anekdote m

  Nynorsk: anekdote m

• Persian: لطیفه‎ (fa) (latife)
• Polish: anegdota (pl) f
• Portuguese: anedota (pt) f
• Romanian: anecdotă (ro) f
• Russian: анекдо́т (ru) m (anekdót), эпизо́д (ru) m (epizód), слу́чай (ru) m (slúčaj), заба́вная исто́рия f (zabávnaja istórija)
• Scottish Gaelic: naidheachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: анегдо̀та f

  Roman: anegdòta (sh) f

• Slovak: anekdota f
• Slovene: anekdota (sl) f
• Spanish: anécdota (es) f, chascarrillo (es)
• Swedish: anekdot (sv) c
• Tajik: латифа (tg) (latifa)
• Tatar: мәзәк (tt) (mäzäk)
• Thai: เรื่องขำขัน (rʉ̂ʉang-kǎm-kǎn), ชวนหัว (th) (chuuan-hǔua)
• Turkish: anekdot (tr)
• Ukrainian: анекдо́т (uk) m (anekdót)
• Uzbek: anekdot, latifa (uz)
• Vietnamese: giai thoại (vi) (佳話)
• Yiddish: אַנעקדאָט‎ m (anekdot)

previously untold, secret account of an incident

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 秘史 (zh) (mìshǐ), 秘聞, 秘闻 (mìwén)

• Finnish: paljastus (fi)
• German: Anekdote (de) f

• Japanese: 秘史 (ひし, hishi)

See also

• data

Verb

anecdote (third-person singular simple present anecdotes, present participle anecdoting, simple past and past participle anecdoted)

1. (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

• encoated, toe dance, toe-dance, toedance

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.nɛk.dɔt/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

anecdote f (plural anecdotes)

1. anecdote

Descendants

• → Dutch: anekdote
  • → Indonesian: anekdot
• → English: anecdote
• → Norwegian Bokmål: anekdote
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: anekdote
• → Russian: анекдо́т (anekdót) (see there for further descendants)
• → Spanish: anécdota
• → Swedish: anekdot
• → Turkish: anekdot

Further reading

• “anecdote”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.