anecdote

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Late 17th century, from French anecdote, from Ancient Greek ἀνέκδοτος ‎(anékdotos, “accounts unpublished”), from ἀν- ‎(an-, “not, un-”) + ἔκδοτος ‎(ékdotos, “published”), from ἐκδίδωμι ‎(ekdídōmi, “I publish”), from ἐκ- ‎(ek-, “out”) + δίδωμι ‎(dídōmi, “I give”).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

Terms derived from anecdote

• anecdotage
• anecdotal
• anecdotalism
• anecdotally
• anecdotard

• anecdotarian
• anecdoter
• anecdotic
• anecdotical

• anecdotish (rare)
• anecdotist
• anecdotive (rare)
• anecdotographer

Translations

short account of an incident

• Arabic: نَادِرَة f ‎(nādira)
• Armenian: անեկդոտ (hy) ‎(anekdot)
• Bulgarian: анекдо́т (bg) m ‎(anekdót)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逸事 (zh) ‎(yìshì), 軼事 (zh), 轶事 (zh) ‎(yìshì)

• Danish: anekdote (da) c
• Esperanto: anekdoto
• Finnish: anekdootti (fi), kasku (fi), juttu (fi), tarina (fi)
• French: anecdote (fr) f
• German: Anekdote (de) f
• Greek: ανέκδοτο (el) n ‎(anékdoto)
• 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)
• Luxembourgish: Anekdot
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: anekdote m

  Nynorsk: anekdote m

• Polish: anegdota (pl) f
• Portuguese: anedota (pt) f
• Russian: эпизо́д (ru) m ‎(epizód), слу́чай (ru) m ‎(slúčaj), анекдо́т (ru) m ‎(anekdót), заба́вная исто́рия ‎(zabávnaja istórija)
• Scottish Gaelic: naidheachd f
• Serbo-Croatian: anegdota (sh) f
• Spanish: anécdota (es) f
• Swedish: anekdot (sv) c
• Yiddish: אַנעקדאָט m ‎(anekdot)

previously untold, secret account of an incident

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

• Japanese: 秘史 ‎(ひし, hishi)

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /a.nɛk.dɔt/

Noun

anecdote f ‎(plural anecdotes)

1. anecdote

External links

• “anecdote” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).